Love In Its Essence
by Mendeia
Summary: Arc 4 of The Temple Steps Alight series. Over the last two years, SELF has been thriving, and so have the Sentinels and Guides proud to call it their home. But when Doctor Zin implements his ultimate plan, it will take everything the Sentinels and Guides have learned about themselves and more to survive and protect not only their tribe, but the very world.
1. Chapter 1

Love in its essence is spiritual fire.  
-Emanuel Swedenborg

-==OOO==-

Jonny started to laugh.

 _This is Cascade. Why do they even plan to hold these things outside when they know it will end like this_?

His neighbor elbowed him as the sound equipment up front gave a terrible squawk that sounded like it should have come from an injured turkey and not a microphone. The squawking subsided after a moment into an intermittent hissing garbled scratching noise occasionally accompanied by words.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it my pleasure to welcome you… _hiss_ …this important day in the young lives… _hisshisshiss_ …graduating class… _hissSCRATCHhiss_ …"

Jonny turned down his hearing. He supposed he could have dialed his senses _up_ to actually hear the speech, but he could tell from here that it was going to be boring. A cold trickle of water dripped from his cap's once-proud square crown, now somewhat saggy, and hit him in the back of the neck.

Jonny looked up balefully. The graduates had been seated under an awning built to keep off sun, not rain. It was vaguely helpful at least for a little while, but it meant more that water would gather through the soaking material in large drops that then fell like baseballs onto those sitting below. The chairs beneath them had been soaked long before they had filed into place in a miserable, undignified procession, their programs adhered to the chair-seats and smeared beyond legibility.

Jonny's phone pinged so softly almost no one else could have heard it, sounding a peculiar set of tones. It was one of his father's latest additions to the already over-engineered phones used by all the Quests and their friends – but this addition was specific to Sentinels. Any phone in the network could ping another with a unique combination of sounds. It told the receiver that the person indicated by the combination would be speaking shortly and for them to extend their senses if they could not take a call in a more conventional way. Jonny reacted to it almost instinctively, sharpening his hearing as he honed in on the person that had asked for his attention.

Fifty yards away, Hadji said softly, "Be grateful at least for the awning, my friend. We are making do with umbrellas and garbage bags."

Jonny snorted. He shifted a little in his chair, unerringly locating his family in the sea of dismal, poncho-wearing parents and friends. Their group had secured a spot on one end of the vast spread of folding chairs about mid-way back. On the end sat Jim with Race beside him, the protectors ready to bolt at a moment's notice. On Race's other side was Blair, then Hadji, then Doctor Quest. Jonny's eyes widened as he realized who was populating the row behind them. Daryl, Ngama, Kaimi, Eric, Lai, and even Dmitri and Ivanna. Simon and Joel had wanted to attend as well, but had begged off to take charge of the party happening afterwards up at SELF.

But, indeed, the whole crew was a mess of sodden coats and suits. Doctor Quest, Race, Eric, and Ngama all had umbrellas, but these were almost less than useless – not only did the rain blow in around them, but they created steady streams of water that ran down into their neighbors' laps or upon their heads. Blair and Hadji had forgone their umbrellas entirely, wrapping up in huge garbage bags Jonny guessed Blair had pilfered from a nearby building. It looked as if they had simply cut a hole for their faces and contented themselves with looking like black plastic Halloween ghosts. And from their matching, slightly delighted grins, they were very aware of how silly they looked, but they were also smugly dry.

 _Quite a turnout for me and Jess_ , Jonny thought with a smile. Not that he'd really expected anything less.

With the practice of several years, Jonny focused his hearing to narrow in on their group. Blair was right in the middle of relating a story. He wasn't even bothering to whisper because the rain and wind and bad audio tech was making it impossible to hear anything from the stage more than the slightest distance back into the crowd.

"…So, the students are all crammed together on the floor of the indoor courts and all around the track, with no chairs set up because nobody figured they'd need to use the backup because it was _supposed_ to be nice. Typical, right? And the Chancellor is right in the middle of her speech, which, by the way, she gives every single year without varying it even a little bit and I think even I could recite it from memory by now and I've only been to a few graduations, after all – anyway, she's just getting to the part about 'continuing social responsibility' when there is this enormous _BBBZZZZZZTTTT_ noise from the big clock on the wall for basketball games and stuff like that. And just as she's clearing her throat to continue, there's this thumping bass line and a voice comes over the loudspeaker, not the sound system but the big bullhorn-looking things in the rafters that goes, 'Let's get ready to ruuuuuuummmmmbbbbbblllleee!' and the techno beat starts up the way it does for every basketball game. And nobody knows how to turn it off because everybody on the stage are the administrators and none of them have ever really been part of what you'd call 'student life' around campus."

"So what happened?" Race asked.

"Well, the Chancellor gets really flustered and tries to talk over it for a little while, but the first time the voice becomes a bunch of girls yelling 'Action, Action, we want action – A C T – I O N, action boys, action men!' she just about choked. And most of the student body as well as the professors are laughing at this point. So suddenly the Dean of the Masters program just stands up and stomps straight to the podium and yells into the mic, 'Somebody stop those cheerleaders or all these diplomas are going back out in the rain!' And finally a couple of students get up, the ones who work tech around campus as a job and know every building inside and out, and they walk right up to the panel on the wall directly behind the stage. Like, in reach of everybody on their special chairs. And they look at the panel really seriously for a minute, then hit the giant red button that says 'On/Off' and the sound goes away. And the Chancellor pulls them up on stage that minute and awards their diplomas on the spot."

"And where were you while all this was going on, Chief?" Jim asked.

"Oh, I was sitting off to the side with some of the other TAs since I wasn't graduating but we had showed up to send off some friends. And we were all laughing ourselves sick but trying to keep it in because we didn't want to get booted from the program. So we were in perfect position to see that it was the Chancellor herself who bumped into the control panel when she got out of her chair to make her speech."

"So you didn't help and let the poor woman be mortified," Hadji said, but his face was twisted with amusement.

"Have you _met_ that woman? She made my life miserable for more than a decade! If that's the only revenge I ever get, at least I have that memory," Blair laughed.

Jonny's phone pinged again, this time a different pattern and he swiveled his head to look forward. Jessie was turning around. She'd kept her phone hidden in her robes – it was rude to be visibly ignoring things when you were in the second row and right in front of the person giving the unsuccessful speech – but she knew its controls by feel. Jonny tipped his head to show he was listening.

"They're having a lot more fun back there than we are, rain notwithstanding, aren't they?" she said in a whisper.

Jonny grinned and nodded sharply so she could see it.

Jessie gave an aggrieved sigh and turned back around muttering about the unfairness of not being able to listen in.

Jonny rolled his shoulders, glancing back at his family long enough to fix their position in his mind before he turned to face front, his hearing still concentrated on the bedraggled group suffering boredom under the deluge for his and Jessie's sake. His father was launching into a story now, one Jonny knew from his childhood but the surprise and stifled laughter from the rest of the Chancery residents was enough to spice up the tale on repeated hearing.

 _At least if I'm stuck here for however long, I'm not alone_. He smiled to himself. _Not that I ever was_.

-==OOO==-

By the time Jonny and Jessie found one another in the soaking crowd of graduates and managed to squeeze through them, their hats were floppy and curling, their robes were sticking to them everywhere, and they were freezing. Jonny had followed his Guide throughout the ceremony with his senses, had listened to Hadji's particular clapping when his name was called and he accepted his degree, and now it was just a matter of honing in on him.

"Looks like Race is using the keys-of-which-we-never-speak," Jonny said wryly to Jessie.

"Why do we keep it such a big secret? Is there _anybody_ who doesn't know that he has a copy of every key to any building we might _ever_ conceivably be in around here? _Including_ the police station?" Jessie asked.

" _Especially_ the police station," Jonny grinned. "Jim knows. All the Sentinels know. I don't think Simon does, though. And he'd pitch a fit if he found out Race could get down into the evidence lockers or the holding cells."

"Which is why we didn't tell him," Jessie nodded. "I see. Better for everybody."

Jonny opened the door he knew was the one his family had used – they were only a few yards into the computer center and this was the nearest entrance – and ducked out of the rain at last. Inside, he and Jessie were met with a burst of applause.

Jessie smiled broadly and swept off her mushy graduation cap, flinging it into the air and bowing with a swish of wet robes. The hat hit the ground with an audible _splat_.

"Could have been a better day for it, but I'm still just as proud of you, Ponchita," Race said, striding over and giving his daughter a hug regardless of the water.

"We're all very proud of you," Benton nodded. "Top marks in both your chosen degrees, and already accepted into the Masters program. I could not ask for more from any of you," he included Hadji in the smile, as the Guide had accidentally acquired his first BA degree after only a year at Rainier and had spent the last year and a half pursuing an additional BA and the beginnings of a Masters as well.

"I just hope it's not this gross next time. Who's next?" Jonny asked.

"Me, I think," Eric said. "I should be done around this time next year."

"And me too," Daryl put in. "It's all that studying with you three. It's rubbing off."

"Not on all of us," Lai grumbled good-naturedly. "Some of us have more than a year to go."

"That's your own fault!" Kaimi nudged her. "Nobody told you to take a double major in political science and history!"

"There is no shame in needing more time," Ngama said. "Kaimi and I will graduate from our enhanced programs in two years to go straight towards our own doctorates. We will all be bound in the world of academia for a great deal more time, I think."

"Good thing," Jessie smiled, moving from her father to hug first Daryl, then Lai. "That gives us more time in the Chancery together."

"And the lodge after that, I believe. For some of you, at least," Ivanna spoke up. "I do not think you need fear losing the chance to remain together."

Blair and Hadji exchanged a rapid smile, so quick only those who knew them the best might have spotted it – that, of course, included their Sentinels. The pair of Guides didn't need to guess that this group would remain together for a long while. They already Knew.

"Thank you for coming out today," Jessie said politely to the eldest Guide and Dmitri where they stood amidst the rest.

"We do not leave the lodge often enough," Dmitri shook his head. "There is too much to do, and it is too comfortable there. If we do not venture out into the world, we may lose all the lessons Professor Guide has worked so hard to teach us."

"What the mind has learned can never be unlearned," Hadji said. "It needs only be recalled and honed, but its general contours of wisdom do not fade even with time."

"Astute as always, Docent Guide," Ivanna said with a gracious smile.

"Does this make me Docent Sentinel?" Jonny asked suddenly. "Since I've graduated now, and you gave that title thing to Hadji when he got his degree."

"Don't count on it, kiddo," Jim swept in and caught Jonny unawares in a headlock where he began scruffing his head. "You're still just a punk kid Sentinel even with the degree."

Jonny laughed and fought his way out of the grip, accepting that what Jim said with laughter was actually true. And he was okay with that. There were close to 200 Sentinels and family and allies up at the lodge these days, and dozens more who had returned to their homes or settled into new ones in and around Cascade after mastering what the Guides could teach them. But there were still only the original handful of Guides, and every one of them was treasured specially. Jonny didn't much care if the Sentinels continued to view his Guide with respect and awe – as far as he was concerned, Hadji deserved it.

"We should probably think about departing. There are many waiting to greet us still," Hadji said as if picking up on Jonny's thoughts – and in a way Jonny thought he might be. What exactly Blair, Hadji, and Kaimi could do was still not entirely clear. Ivanna was a different sort of Guide, lacking in the Seventh sense. And Melly, Angie Rafe's Guide, while a full Guide with the Seventh, was a little young for it, having only just turned seventeen. She was taking to Guiding as if born to it – they all seemed to do that – but Hadji and Blair and Kaimi said there was something she had yet to grow into before she would tap her full potential, and until then she and Angie would not bond, either. Melly mostly rolled her eyes at them and called them old fogeys.

"The crowd will have thinned a bit by now," Blair said. "The cars are in the back lot, and we can go through most of the science complex from here to get there, so we'll get a little respite from the rain."

They began to meander through the hallways, Jonny and Jessie stripping out of their soaking robes and grateful they'd worn nothing nicer than jeans and sweatshirts underneath. There would be time to dress up at SELF – after drying off.

"Jonny?" Hadji said softly, sidling up to his brother and Sentinel. Jonny barely noticed Jessie pulling his own robe and ruin of a hat from him to free his hands. Of course, she promptly dumped the lot of it on Race who mockingly grumbled at her.

"Yeah, Hadj?"

"I do not mean to sound condescending, but I, too, am proud of you. Not only for this accomplishment, but for all you have done since our arrival in Cascade."

Jonny felt his face heat a little under the praise and slung an arm around Hadji. "Couldn't have done it without you, my brother. I mean that. I couldn't have done _any_ of it without you."

Behind them, Jim and Blair trailed, watching the interaction fondly. Jim slipped a wordless arm around his own Guide's shoulders comfortably.

"Ditto, man," Blair said softly.

"Hmm?"

"I couldn't have done any of this without you, Jim. You…you really gave me a whole life, you know? And I'm not just talking about the fountain."

Jim suppressed a shiver and tightened his grip, ignoring the sense memory of Blair being cold and wet and dead. It was bad enough that he was cold and wet now. What he said was, "Two-way street, partner. I wouldn't be a Sentinel without you. And I wouldn't be…" He trailed off.

 _I wouldn't be happy. I wouldn't have a tribe and friends and a family. I wouldn't know what it meant to love someone. To really love someone. To be connected with every part of myself for all time now and always_.

But Blair heard it anyway. "I know. Me too."

-==OOO==-

The lodge was bright and warm, a welcome change for the still-dripping crew that had attended the graduation ceremony. Because the party was to start soon, they all bolted upstairs to change and dry off. Daryl almost careened into his father as he shot into the little apartment they now shared next to Jim and Blair, and only a lifetime of being tall and gangly saved them both from disaster; Simon slammed his way out of the room to find somewhere safer to be – such as a warzone. On the other side of the wall, Ngama laughed at the stuttered apology he overheard from his friend while Kaimi dug out towels for them both. At the Chancery they had separate rooms, though she was ever more taking over space in his tiny single. But here, as a bonded Sentinel and Guide, they shared an apartment though they maintained separate bedrooms for now. A floor down were the little singles Lai and Eric each had, not far from the big suite Brian and Henri shared with Angie and Melly whenever they stayed over.

The whole lodge, not just the main building but all the other little bungalows and the new expansion for family living off of one wing of the main building, was filled with light and laughter today. As tended to happen at SELF, one celebration encompassed many individual accomplishments. Even birthdays got lumped together in a big party held once a month for everyone born within it just to save on time.

Today there stood two proud cakes side-by-side. They read:

 _Congratulations on Your Graduation Jessie & Jonny  
Happy Retirement Joel and Welcome to SELF_

"You know," Simon said as he finished straightening the picture of Joel from his own graduation from the Academy that he had found via mysterious means and now added to the mantle, "most cops who get to their 20 just get a night at the bar. This makes it, what, three parties now?"

"I suppose," Joel demurred. "But I wanted to celebrate with the department, and not everybody is in on SELF, so we had to do that one. And I didn't know the bomb team was going to surprise me."

Simon chuckled. "Face it, Taggart. You're just one of those guys everybody likes having around." Then, more seriously, "And we're lucky to have you here full time."

Joel grinned. The last two years balancing "helping out" at SELF with his job as a police captain, member of Major Crimes, and still a leader with the bomb squad tactical team had been exhausting, and when Joel had hit his 20 years of service for the Cascade PD, he had decided to take the pension that was waiting for him. This allowed him to move into the SELF lodge full-time where he was paid a stipend as well as having his room and board covered in exchange for helping manage the property's security. The Sentinel Council had offered him a seat at the same time they opened membership to a few others – Hasna, Galina, and a unique woman named Julia who was a Sentinel without the Seventh sense – which had kept the ratio of the advisory body at 7 Sentinels/Guides to 4 who were neither. Joel would also be taking over some of the introductory classes now that he'd been around long enough to serve as a passable sensory assistant in spite of not being a Guide himself. This would free up Blair and Hadji to focus on the more difficult cases and the finer points of control.

"You know, I have no idea how Blair does it," Joel said. "Less than three years I tried to do SELF and the PD and some weeks I don't think I slept more than a few hours total. But he's still working as Jim's partner and he never shirks the stuff around here, and he never seems tired."

"Neither do the kids," Simon looked upwards to where he could hear some loud conversation on the top level. "And they keep just as busy – if not moreso."

"Yeah, but for a while there Blair was also teaching multiple classes on top of everything," Joel pointed out. "If we could figure out how to bottle that whatever-it-is, we could make a fortune."

"And if we were able to uncover your secret to your kindness and patience and understanding, my friend," Ivanna broke into their conversation, looking regal and resplendent in a long dress of dark green, "we could persuade Benton to implement it on a global scale and peace would reign forevermore."

Joel was getting ready to reply, fighting his embarrassment, when two small blurs rushed through the room. He stepped into their path and opened his arms, scooping up the two little whirlwinds, heedless of the inevitable wrinkling of his suit jacket.

"Careful, ducks," he said to the pair of two-year-old girls who giggled against his broad chest. They both wore frilly skirts but they were barefoot and already JJ had yanked the matching bow out of her hair – if history was any indication, she'd be back in her shorts within minutes. "You don't want to crash into somebody, do you?"

"There's cake!" shouted Yasmin. Then she repeated the sentiment in every language in which she knew the word.

"And balloons!" added JJ. She added her own repetitions of the word, but a few of them sounded like a language of her invention rather than one of the many she had been taught.

"How is it you girls know how to say 'cake' fifteen different ways, but you can't tell me what this is?" Simon asked, smiling, as he held up a piece of broccoli from the veggie tray.

Yasmin stuck out her tongue and made a face, and JJ said something in another of her languages.

"Anybody catch that?" Joel asked.

"That," Jim appeared in a turtleneck and slacks, "was almost perfect Chopec for, loosely translated, 'yucky green sticks,' I think," he smiled. "They must have learned it from Jonny."

"Not me," Jonny was just catching up to Jim, their Guides trailing a little behind, all dry at last and dressed for the occasion. Bandit circled their feet, happily herding them and not realizing his intent was being largely ignored. "Must be one of the others."

"I believe it was Lai," Hadji offered. "She spends time with them, and her grasp of Chopec is better than Kaimi's."

"How many languages have you kids had floating around in that house all these years?" Simon asked.

"Well, English, obviously," Jonny started counting on his fingers. "Chopec because Jim taught it to me and it was useful since nobody else speaks it so we all got into it a little. Lai speaks Mandarin Chinese, Eric speaks Spanish when he's mad because that's the language he first learned to curse people out in, and Ngama speaks French and two or three dialects from home, though he's only really taught us words in the main one he grew up with. We tend to swap around a lot, jumping from one into the next as a game."

"That is not counting our already extensive language exposure," Hadji added. "Myself and Jonny and Jessie were all well-versed in Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, and a smattering of words in other tongues as well. And I was raised speaking Bengali and Hindi, of course."

Simon eyed his son, who had appeared, fingers interwoven with Jessie's like always. "How did you keep up?" he asked. "You weren't fluent in anything but English a few years ago."

Daryl laughed. "Live with seven people who all know three languages minimum and you'll start to pick things up. Or else you'll find out you've just agreed to stand on your head in the bathtub or something."

"Hey, I only spoke English at first, too," Kaimi said as the stream of people moving into the greatroom continued. Her sky-blue wrap skirt matched Ngama's shirt perfectly. "I knew a few words of Hawaiian, but nothing like this. And I think Eric only spoke Spanish."

"By which you mean 'locker room Spanish,' really," Eric put in. "But, yeah. I'm still probably the worst of all of us at anything other than English, but it's a lot easier than it used to be. They have immersion houses on campus where you can live and only speak a foreign language to help you learn it. I think we were the only polyglot immersion house in Cascade!"

"But it helps," Daryl said. "With all the people here from all over the world, a lot of them don't really speak English. They've got enough to do with the sensory stuff. The least we could do was figure out how to talk to them in their own language."

"Well, maybe you can give me a few pointers," Joel said, casually dangling both giggling toddlers upside-down from his arms. "I'm still pretty rusty in everything."

"You speak with your heart and your actions," Ivanna said.

"And that's what we're here to celebrate!" Benton and Race finally joined the growing crowd. "The end of one phase of life and the beginning of another for all three of you. Though, I suspect you may find that there are many aspects which will not change at all between them."

Joel squeezed the little girls in his arms fondly. "And some that improve a lot." The girls hugged him back, not entirely understanding why he was both a little sad and happy, but they had been told that their Joel would be around all the time now and they liked that.

Many more Sentinels gathered in the greatroom now, cycling through to congratulate the three being honored and to chat with the others who had been scarce the last few weeks – particularly the students dealing with finals. When the dull roar of the place stilled, Dmitri appeared from the vicinity of the kitchen and cleared his throat loudly for attention.

"I don't give speeches," he said, and a few of his oldest friends agreed heartily, "but I want to give these out today."

He produced a long, narrow box, which he set on the table near the cakes.

"It is military tradition to award medals for acts of honor or valor or courage," he said. "And it is Sentinel tradition to recognize the best of us and hold them up to lead and protect us. So, with some help from those who have gone before, I present you with these."

He opened the lid of the box and everybody in the room tried to cram near enough to see what was in it – made easier for all the Sentinels who needed only a clear view for an instant of enhanced sight. Lining the box was thick, black velvet, which made for a stark background against which eight bright, silver seven-pointed stars shone. At the centers of the stars were deeply colored opals, predominately blue but with all colors flowing through them in unique patterns.

Dmitri coughed to regain the attention of the crowd. "There are many knighthoods and noble brotherhoods throughout the world, but ours is unique in that we were born into our tribe before we even came here to choose it for ourselves. SELF is the name Benton gave to his foundation to protect and guard and teach us, and it is led by the Council, but what we are to one another is not SELF. We are the Tribe of Seven, because even those who lack certain senses are guided and bound by the same power that inhabits those who have them. I hope you will forgive my presumption to award these to those who have served us well already."

"That's beautiful," Hasna said from nearby.

"Don't thank me," Dmitri shot her a quick smile. "Dominik and Luka came up with it for me."

"The speech or the medals themselves?" she asked teasingly.

"Both."

And he lifted each medal and called out a name. "For guardianship, leadership, integrity, and courage: Sentinel Jim Ellison and Professor Guide Doctor Blair Sandburg." Blair blushed at that, but he accepted the medal from Dmitri and allowed Ivanna to pin it on his chest.

"For protection and support and unwavering loyalty: Doctor Benton Quest and Councilor Race Bannon.

"For dedication and rare wisdom, courage, and spiritual powers: Sentinel Jonny Quest and Docent Guide Hadji Singh Quest."

He paused before lifting the last two. "For bravery, loyalty, and honor: Councilor Simon Banks. And finally, for kindness, wisdom, and tireless effort: our newest – Councilor Joel Taggart."

There was a roar of applause.

"What about you, Dmitri?" Blair asked quietly while the room voiced its approval.

"Ivan and I discussed it. We have guarded Sentinels for many years, but it is you, all of you, who have led us to where we stand today. You came to us and offered us sanctuary and insight. You and your Sentinel as well as the young ones engineered the rescue of dozens of our people from that facility. Benton and Race built this place brick-by-brick, have sought us out throughout the world in ever greater numbers, and Simon and Joel have shouldered the load admirably." He shook his head. "What Ivan and I have done is good. We know this. But we have not tread new ground nor created a future. That comes from you."

Blair was ready to wind up into an argument, but Jim, suspiciously blinking back a strange brightness in his eyes, put a hand on his shoulder. "Leave it, Sandburg. Let them do this for us."

Then Dmitri turned back to the crowd. "Enough speeches! We're here because Jessie and Jonny graduated and Joel retired. So let's get busy celebrating them!"

The cheering picked back up, as did the sudden surge towards the food as the party started in earnest.

Somewhat later, Simon wandered up to where Daryl and Jessie were sitting with Race one floor up, their feet dangling over the edge of the walkway.

"So, any new summer plans besides a little school work and hanging out here?" he asked.

Daryl shrugged. "Not really. I mean, we could always go back to Palm Key if we wanted to get away, right?"

"Or anywhere else," Race said, smiling. "I'm thinking about dragging Benton out of here, too. He's starting to get that crazy-genius-cooped-up-in-a-lab-too-long look."

Jessie laughed. "That's _exactly_ what Jonny said yesterday!"

"Well, then maybe we should arrange something," Simon said. "Jim and Rafe and Brown and I will probably need to hang around – Cascade always gets more interesting in summertime. But I'm sure you kids could get out of here for a while."

"Well, who knows?" Daryl looked back over the room. "Maybe we will."

But Simon could see that his son was utterly taken by what surrounded him, and not just the girl at his side. He had developed a profound respect for Sentinels, like Joel had, and he loved being welcomed into their strange society. Plus, while Daryl Banks had yet to give up on his thought of going to the Academy and becoming a cop, he was learning more and more from those who had spent a lifetime guarding others.

"I think it's going to be a good summer," Race commented lightly. "Even if we don't get out of here, we've got more to do than ever before, and more help around here, too."

"You're right about that," Simon nodded. "I'd almost want to go Joel's way and take my pension early just to join in on the fun. But there will be time enough for that later. For now, somebody's got to keep the four terrors of Ellison, Sandburg, Brown, and Rafe under control at the station."

"Maybe they'll all leave the PD and join SELF full-time someday," Jessie suggested.

"Maybe," Simon hedged. "But I think it'll be a long time before Ellison is ready to give up his badge. That man is going to be protecting his territory until the day he dies."

"I think we all will," Daryl said softly.

Simon looked out over the greatroom and all the people within it. His tribe. "I think you're right, son."

-==OOO==-

"This is Ice."

"Is Fire prepared?"

"Yes, sir. All is ready."

"Then the time has come for the beginning of my ascendance and the end of the Quests and all their foolish allies. I leave things in your capable hands, Ice."

"Thank you, Doctor Zin. I won't let you down."


	2. Chapter 2

Hi all! Welcome back for the epic that is Arc 4! This thing at last edit was just a touch under 100,000 words, so we've got a lot of ground to cover.

No better time to get started than the present!

Enjoy!

* * *

Kaimi woke in the African rainforest.

She identified it immediately as distinct from the jungle that was a part of Blair's meditations or the savannah that cropped up in Hadji's. She and her fellow Guides had speculated that each Sentinel tended to default to a specific environment when visualizing the metaphysical side of their awareness, and the section they chose was connected to where they had first touched their Sentinel nature. And whichever environment was the default for the Sentinel would influence the Guide as well. So, for Blair, it was the Peruvian Amazon, a dense, thick jungle where Jim had spent time. For Hadji, it was the open savannah where Jonny had once followed an elephant's journey. And for herself, it was the coastal African rainforest that had surrounded Ngama in his childhood, which she had learned to tell from Jim's Amazon by a difference in the density of the undergrowth and some of the specific flora.

Kaimi had only experienced the visions a few times in the last two years, mainly concerning helping her discover her identity and abilities as a Guide. But this was different. She _Knew_ this was different.

Kaimi was certain Blair or Hadji might proceed without hesitation, but it wasn't in her nature to strike out into the unknown blindly. Particularly here, where she had the least experience. And even if Blair and Hadji assured her that her command here would be innate, she wasn't in a hurry to test that right this minute with something potentially important.

Instead, she trusted that this would work – because it _should_ – and stretched out her arms and her will, shouting, "Hadji! Blair! Quit dreaming and find me here! I need you!"

There was a brief silence, and then an eagle's cry split the sky, followed by the long howl of a wolf. In moments, the tawny eagle swept down to become Hadji and the wolf trotted to her side and transformed into Blair.

"You called us out of a sound sleep," Hadji said, not reprovingly, but with surprise. "Well done!"

"Knew it wouldn't take you long to learn to fly on your own," Blair smiled.

Kaimi nodded, ignoring the terrible pun on her own albatross spirit animal. "There's something here. Something not right."

"Then let us investigate it," Hadji suggested.

He opened his arms and extended his hands. Blair and Kaimi each took one and joined hands as well, forming a triangle. With their hands linked, they felt the power of their Seventh senses grow, connecting their awareness even without finding the Temple and using the Seventh Door.

Above, the sky darkened as it began to reflect what the three Guides were drawing forth.

Suddenly an enormous form loomed over all three, huge teeth gleaming, roaring, tail lashing.

"Oh _no_!" Kaimi screamed, and her terror wrenched her out of the dream entirely. She found herself sitting up in her bed, sweating heavily and trembling.

There was the crash of a door and suddenly Ngama was in the room, bolting to her bed and pulling her into his arms. "Kaimi, are you all right? What is it?"

"I…I'm fine…it was…I had a dream…" She shuddered and tried to focus on something other than the panic clawing at her stomach. "I think it was only a dream. I'm sorry I woke you."

Ngama only drew her closer, tucking her head against his shoulder and curling himself around her. "You're all right, love. I will protect you. I promise."

"I know. You're my Sentinel."

"And I also love you," he said firmly.

Kaimi smiled in spite of the strange terror that refused to dwindle. Ngama had been very strict on that point from the beginning – she might be his Guide, he might be her Sentinel, they might be bound by a connection that no one really understood; but his love for her was not conditional upon that. Ngama swore that, even if she had not been a Guide, he would have wanted no other in his heart as he wanted her. He would have chosen Kaimi for his other half no matter what. It was a reassurance Kaimi hadn't known she needed at the time, and was ever more grateful for since.

Ngama took a breath to say something more, but froze, tipping his head slightly into a motion so familiar Kaimi could interpret it even with her eyes closed and her cheek against his shoulder. Ngama was listening.

"Blair has just awoken Jim in similar distress," Ngama said. "And Hadji's sleep is restless. Jonny is attempting to wake him."

"Oh, fantastic," Kaimi drawled. "Is the rest of the lodge freaking out?"

"A bit," Ngama acknowledged. Then he raised his head and spoke very clearly – and loudly. "We have the watch over our Guides. Rest easy, my brothers and sisters. We will call if we need you."

From the look that crossed Ngama's face, Kaimi wished she could hear what he did. Apparently the lodge full of Sentinels was objecting. But they would not come rushing in. That had been done exactly _once_ , when Blair had had a nightmare of something disturbing a year before. Most of the Sentinels on site had bolted from their beds to run to the senior Guide's aid, going so far as to force open the door to the apartment in their haste to protect him. And then Jim had bellowed at them to get the hell out of his room or they would regret it. He'd zoned six Sentinels by the yelling alone. Dmitri had physically shoved Sentinels aside and actually put one in a headlock to try to clear them out. And then Race threatened to start getting tranq guns and they had finally subsided. Their hearts were, of course, in the right place – they worried about their tribe's Guides.

But now they waited until invited in the case of nightmares.

Ngama frowned suddenly. "Blair and Hadji are refusing to say what has disturbed your sleep. And I notice you did not volunteer the subject of your fear, either."

"No, and I won't, either," Kaimi said. "It doesn't…it doesn't feel like we should tell you, not yet. That, if we share what we saw, it will change how you will react, and that would be bad somehow. We need you to trust us."

"I do trust you," Ngama told her firmly. "I will not ask again."

"I bet Jim is sure asking Blair, though," Kaimi smiled a little.

"Yes. He is."

Kaimi nodded. "It isn't that he doesn't trust Blair. He does. But he doesn't trust the world, and he wants every advantage he can get to protect Blair from it."

"I think we are all that way," Ngama said.

"Yeah, but you're better at accepting what you can't change. Jim would rather just change it."

Ngama nodded. He shifted his arms so he could look at his Guide and she could see his face. "What happens now?"

"Now we all try to go back to sleep," Kaimi said decisively. "Tomorrow, when we're awake and we've gotten certain people some coffee, we Guides will talk. And then we'll see what needs to happen."

"Would you like me to stay?" Ngama offered gently.

"Yes, please," Kaimi whispered. She shifted out of Ngama's embrace to rearrange her pillows, sliding over to make room for him in the bed. She wondered idly if Blair and Hadji were doing something similar right now. It wasn't that she didn't feel safe – she was safe and she knew it.

But after a vision like that, the reassurance of Ngama's hand holding hers and his strong arms around her as she drifted off made sleep a lot less frightening the second time around.

-==OOO==-

"All right, Sandburg. I've been patient long enough. I can handle you avoiding the subject all morning, and I can handle your little song and dance to Simon about us needing a day away from the lodge for Sentinel-Guide purposes," Jim crossed his arms and glared.

Blair smiled innocently.

"But you're going to tell me why the hell we came _here_ before you go another step."

Kaimi and Hadji exchanged knowing looks. Not for the first time, both were glad that the dogged, cranky Sentinel was Guided by Blair. They'd take their own Sentinels any day.

"We can't tell you quite yet," Blair shook his head, clearly enjoying his evasion even as he was being totally honest. "We need to look at something first."

"And this is why all that stuff last night?" Jonny asked. He was just as curious as Jim, though vastly less annoyed, and was struggling to piece together the answer before the Guides revealed it.

"Patience, my friend," Hadji said. "The eager pup will trip over his own feet and lose the hunt."

"That was awful," Kaimi told him.

Hadji shrugged. "I apologize. I confess that I am somewhat distracted at present."

"As am I," Ngama said. He ran a hand over his forearm, noting the hairs that stood up on end at the chill that had seized him from even outside the building.

"I guess that kinda makes sense," Jessie said. "Hadji's the most spiritually aware of you three, and Ngama's the most aware of his environment."

Daryl looked up from the map he'd snagged from a nearby counter. He was just as glad not to be a Sentinel or Guide with all the weird stuff that seemed to drag them around, but he also had jumped at the chance to join the excursion. The Guides had insisted that this was where they were bound today, and their Sentinels would not let them out of their sight. Jessie and Daryl could have stayed back at the lodge with everyone else for a lazy Sunday, especially after the party went so late, but this seemed like more fun. And he hadn't been here since he'd been a kid.

"Come on," Kaimi said, turning. "Let's get in there and we'll see what we find."

The others fell in behind her, Jim almost visibly stomping along after Blair, as they passed through the door to the Exhibit Hall of the Cascade Science Museum.

The Exhibit Hall was actually three full stories of exhibits, inaccessible from the rest of the building but through the main entrance at the top and a few emergency doors on each level. On the top floor was a section dedicated to the region, the wildlife in and around Cascade, and the history of the various peoples who had lived there. The next floor down housed a series of experiments and displays having to do with the human body, from kid-friendly demonstrations of blood circulation to a whole section on genetics. The third floor had a huge open area filled with displays and activities to teach about the basic principles of engineering and science, from magnetism, gravity, and friction to how to complete a circuit. There was also the museum's permanent collection of cultural artifacts and a small café.

The Guides walked down the musical steps, which played tones as they were stepped on, and stopped on the second floor. The human body exhibit only took up a small portion of the space. Most of the floor was hidden behind a door marked "Special Traveling Exhibit."

Kaimi felt her heart start to race and she reached for Ngama's hand, holding it tightly.

Jim pushed through the door with everyone crowding after him. He was so busy watching his Guide that he failed to look up until everyone stopped, when he almost leaped back in surprise. "Aaah!"

The massive skull of a Tyrannosaurus Rex greeted them with long, shining fangs.

"Dinosaurs?" Daryl looked around with a grin. "They've got dinosaurs this year?"

"Apparently these are a special set," Jessie said, peeking at the guidebook. "Besides this guy, one of the largest T-Rex skeletons ever found, the rest are some extremely new and obscure finds from South America. A lot of these dinosaurs were only uncovered in the last decade and they're some of the only known examples of their kind."

"Is this what's got you all worked up?" Jim asked, surprised. "I'm assuming you didn't just want to come see them…"

He trailed off as his eyes widened.

"Jessie, Daryl, get Ngama! Blair? Buddy? Come on, don't do this," Jim strode forward to grip his Guide's shoulders.

"Hadji! Hadji, what is it?" Jonny was already crowding his Guide worriedly.

Ngama had somehow zoned deeply, and all three Guides stood, stiff and pale and unblinking where they had stopped right at the edge of the T-Rex's display, their faces fixed blankly on that grinning maw.

Jessie and Daryl snapped into action, quickly moving to arrange themselves behind Ngama and the frozen Guides. Jessie dug into her purse for the tiny vial of smelling salts she kept handy for just this reason.

"I'm going to bring him back," she said to Daryl. "Be ready to catch him if he goes."

"What about them?" Daryl looked at the three Guides. Jim was almost shaking Blair trying to get a response, and Jonny was trying to get between Hadji and the railing so he could face his brother.

"Let's get Ngama back first," Jessie decided. "He might be able to help Kaimi."

Daryl braced himself behind the zoned Sentinel, putting an arm out for Kaimi in case Ngama knocked into her when he woke up. Jessie uncorked the salts and waved them under Ngama's nose for just an instant.

Ngama blinked hard and coughed. "That is vile!" he complained, tipping backwards into Daryl for just a moment.

"What happened?" Jessie asked. "Why are they…?"

Ngama turned to look. The three Guides were still slack-jawed and unaware, though their bodies were unmoving and rigid. He reached out to Jim to stop him from panicking and the action drew Jonny's attention as well.

"They are lost within their own heightened senses," Ngama explained. "As I was. But they are infinitely closer to the Sixth and Seventh than I."

"What is it that they're fixed on?" Daryl asked.

"They – we – can feel the history of these fossils. We can feel the millions of years, the upheavals of the land, even a bit the spirit of the creature. Imagine perceiving it as a ghost, with every year since the original death adding in strength and complexity and sheer presence."

Jessie shivered. All those millions of years made her feel strange, too.

"So if they're zoned, we bring them out," Jim said. "Time for some foxball."

As one, the three Sentinels drew their spirit animals into view. The creatures did not hesitate. Jim's jaguar dove into Blair's unresisting body while the smaller fox that was Jonny's and honey badger that was Ngama's actually scrambled up their Sentinels first to get the height to hit the Guides high in the chest. The Sentinels felt the flash of the bond, that infinite and endless connection.

And their Guides staggered back to reality, gasping.

"Oh, man," Blair listed dangerously to one side before Jim got an arm around him. He breathed hard while his Sentinel focused on keeping him upright. "That was..."

"What a rush," Kaimi said with wonder, even as she leaned back against Ngama's chest and visibly shook.

"I am all right," Hadji attempted to reassure Jonny. But the fact that it was mainly his arm over Jonny's shoulders and Jonny's grip around him that held it up somewhat undermined the statement.

"So this is why you wanted to come here," Jessie said, looking between the three pale Guides and the dinosaur skeleton. "The exhibit just arrived not too long ago, so I guess it makes sense."

But Blair shook his head. "No, that's not why. I mean, it has to do with these guys, but.."

The three Sentinels had been so focused on their Guides, none of them had been paying attention to their surroundings, so the sudden sharp sound of gunfire that interrupted him caught them all by surprise.

-==OOO==-

"Doctor Zin? This is Ice. Phase one has been begun."

"Excellent. Make sure you keep Fire's forces contained. We must ensure that the official response is foiled long enough to draw an unofficial response. Only then will you have what you need."

"Understood. Ice out."

-==OOO==-

Jim's first instinct was to run towards the sound of gunfire, but Blair's hand on his arm stopped him.

"Sandburg!" Jim turned to him. "We have to – "

"Stop." Blair's voice was iron-solid, a force of confidence. "Wait. It doesn't feel right."

Jim looked into his partner's eyes and saw the odd light that meant Blair was perceiving something with his other senses, something Jim could reach if he bothered. Although the cop and soldier in him fumed at the delay, the Sentinel in Jim understood that he needed to follow his Guide and obeyed. Jim glanced around once, shepherding the whole group to a defensible corner, before he closed his eyes and stretched out with his other senses, trusting the other two Sentinels to guard the group for him.

A familiar voice reached him. "Secure the perimeter first. Then we'll start our negotiations with the occupying conspiracy forces."

"Yes, Commander."

Jim opened his eyes and hissed with pure rage, " _Kincaid_."

"Garrett Kincaid is _here_?" Blair gulped. "How? Why?"

"It doesn't matter," Jim shook his head. "What matters is getting out of here so we can do some good."

"What if Kincaid sees us?" Daryl asked. He kept his voice from trembling, but the hand he had wrapped around Jessie's was almost painfully tight and his heart was hammering in his ears.

"Somebody you know?" Jonny asked.

Jim nodded. "Head of the Sunrise Patriots. We've tangled with him twice. He's brutal and ruthless and totally committed to his cause. He'll kill every one of us without a second thought."

"And he would recognize the three of you," Jessie concluded, adding Daryl's tension to Jim's words in her mind. "So we've got to keep you out of sight no matter what. The rest of us are just hostages."

That won her a tiny smile from Jonny and Hadji, remembering multiple previous incidents of being 'just hostages' that had ended rather well.

"Here," Hadji said. He pulled off his turban and expertly wrapped it on Daryl's head, styling it low on his brow to change the perception of the basic shape of his face. "If it has been a few years since last you met, this may provide enough distraction that you will no longer be as obviously yourself."

"Worth a shot," Jonny added.

Kaimi swept the baseball cap she'd worn off her own head and handed it to Blair, who stuffed his hair up under it and pulled it low on his forehead. "Better than nothing," he smiled at her in thanks.

"All right," Jim looked at the six kids plus Sandburg all in his care. He had to keep them safe first and foremost. Which meant getting out of the exhibit hall where there was almost no cover. "We're going up there," he pointed.

The hall was two full stories tall – enough to house some very large exhibits – and the ceiling was mostly lost in shadows due to the mood lighting and various spotlights meant to highlight the fossils. But Sentinel sight easily penetrated the shadows, revealing a network of support beams and even two full catwalks where museum personnel could rig lights for the displays.

"How do we get there?" Kaimi asked. "We're not climbing up the priceless bones!"

"No," Jim shook his head. "We'll use the display over there."

Blair gulped again. "Jim, man, I'm not sure…"

"Trust me, Chief. You can do this."

Blair stared at the wall. What Jim had identified as their ladder was a large graphic that showed the evolution of dinosaurs, with particular cutouts and highlights for each of the skeletons in the room. The graphic was tall enough that if they could stand on top of it they'd have an easy reach to the nearest of the catwalks, but the whole thing seemed like razor-thin ledges with nothing to hold onto.

"I'll go first," Daryl offered. "I do a lot of climbing at Rainier when I need a break."

The eight made their way across the room, noticing that they were alone as everyone else in the exhibit had cleared out in a panic at the sound of the gunshots. Daryl shook out his hands once and then put his fingertips on the top ledge of one of the graphic's labels – it was no more than two inches wide.

"The trick," he said over his shoulder, "is not to think about it and to keep moving. Momentum is your friend."

Daryl spared a moment to be grateful that the incident on the mountainside two years prior had gotten him into the sport in the first place, as it looked like it was about to pay off. Then he kicked one foot into the wall and pushed himself upwards. Being tall, he had a natural advantage, and he was able to stretch high along the graphic for the next tiny hold, curling his hands into hook-like shapes to push down with his fingertips and use his thumbs to balance. The very toes of his sneakers were all that could find purchase on the narrow ledges, but he was used to that with all the indoor wall-climbing he did, so he trusted his toes and his shoes to hold the grip and kept going.

"They're getting closer," Ngama spoke up. "We have little time."

"Come on," Jim shoved Blair at the wall. "I'll climb beside you and I won't let you fall. I promise."

Blair shivered, but the serious look in his Sentinel's eyes steadied him. "Okay."

"And even if you do fall, we'll catch you," Jonny added, and he, Hadji, Jessie, Ngama, and Kaimi all linked their arms together as they would if Blair was doing a trust-fall; if he lost his grip, they could catch him in their makeshift net.

Jim nodded thankfully to the kids and shifted to where he would have a clear path up the wall but leaving the obvious and easiest handholds for Blair, who resolutely marked each step he would need. They started up the climb.

At the top, Daryl made the final swinging move to latch onto the nearest support of the catwalk, hauling himself onto it with a tremendous heave. Thinking quickly, he pulled the turban off his head and unwound it into a long length of sturdy cloth. "Grab this!" he called.

For all his fear, Blair was nimble and quick on the wall and it took him only a few more moments to get near enough for Daryl's improvised rope to reach him. He clung to the wall with his feet and his right hand while grabbing for the end of the cloth with his left, snagging it and wrapping it around his wrist as he pulled against it. Above, Daryl braced himself to slowly haul on it hand over hand, Blair keeping up and soon kicking against the air as he wiggled up onto the catwalk. Jim was right behind him.

Daryl was opening his mouth to call out for the next of the group to start the climb when the doors at the other end of the exhibit hall slammed open. "Everybody freeze or we'll shoot!"

Jim surged to his feet to grab Daryl and Blair and haul them even farther back along the catwalk, positioning them directly behind a spotlight that would blind anyone looking up. "Don't," he warned in a whisper. "We can do more good if no one knows we were ever here, and Kincaid won't recognize them."

Blair nodded against him, but Jim could feel Daryl's tension. He squeezed his arm comfortingly, but that was all he could do – Daryl's fear for himself was great, but his fear for Jessie and his friends was much greater.

Suddenly he caught whispering. Jonny and Ngama had moved in front of the others, so Hadji took the opportunity to glance upwards just once. "Jim, we will be working against them carefully. Do what you must and we shall do the same. They cannot imagine our greatest strengths."

Suddenly the tawny eagle appeared on the catwalk, looking smug.

 _Of course_ , Jim thought. _Not only can Jonny and Ngama track us and anything we say with the help of their Guides, but I can listen for them, too. And there's the spirit animals to make contact as well_. He smiled. _And all of that's before any of the usual Quest tricks or what Sandburg and Daryl and I can do. Kincaid's going down hard this time_.

But Blair whispered, and from the tip of Jonny's head, Jim knew he heard his warning.

"Be careful, you guys. We're in deep and this is no accident. We _had_ to be here for this for some reason. Hadji and Kaimi know as well as I do that whatever Kincaid is after, it's a lot worse than it looks right now. You'll have to be doubly clever this time."

Jonny nodded once before they were led away.

-==OOO==-

Simon glowered at his phone. He and Jim and Brown and Rafe had all planned for months to take this one weekend off to celebrate up at SELF. His Cascade PD phone was _not_ supposed to be ringing today.

Throwing an apologetic glance to the others gathered around in couches and chairs watching baseball, he pulled it out. "Banks."

As the words came at him from the office, Simon fighting to understand around a rushing denial, Race came sprinting into the room.

"We've got a problem!" he yelled.

Simon barked into the phone that he would be right in and slammed it shut. "I know. I just got the call."

"What is it?" Dmitri asked sharply.

Simon realized that someone had shut off the TV and all the gathered Sentinels and allies were staring at him. And more Sentinels were pouring into the room.

"Garrett Kincaid, a dangerous domestic terrorist with a history of destruction and murder, has taken the Science Museum under siege. A number of hostages have already been released, but according to some of the museum's volunteers who work at admissions, there should still be several dozen people inside."

"It's worse than that," Benton said, stepping up to the couch where Simon had been sitting. "IRIS. Verbal access. Identify: Benton Quest."

"Benton Quest identified," replied the voice of IRIS. "How may I be of help?"

"Display location of all current Quest phones in the state of Washington on the television."

"Working," the warmly feminine voice answered. After a moment, the TV lit up with a map of the state. "Quest phones identified."

"Zoom in on Cascade, Washington."

The television's image immediately resolved into a map of the city and its outlying regions. Several different clusters of green locator icons stood out.

"Overlay grid," Benton ordered. As soon as that was done, he added, "Enhance portion C6."

"That's where the museum is," Joel said.

"IRIS, enhance again. Street-level view."

The image shifted into an even more detailed map of the area. Now it was clear that there were eight green icons clustered together in one building and none out in the surrounding streets.

"And there's our problem," Race said tensely. "None of our people were among the hostages released. We've still got the kids plus Jim and Blair inside with that maniac."

"I've been called in to help coordinate the police response," Simon said. "I've tangled with Kincaid twice before. So have Jim and Blair…and Daryl." He took a deep breath. "Kincaid will remember them. He already almost dropped my boy out a sixth-story window to get me to cooperate."

"We're with you," Henri Brown strode forward. "There's no way we aren't getting in on this one."

"And we might be able to get a message to Jim on the inside," Brian Rafe added.

"Good. I'll need both of you." Simon looked around the room. "Kincaid's a loose cannon. We'll do our best."

He pushed through the crowd and headed straight out the door, his pair of detectives in his wake.

The instant the door was closed behind them, Race turned to Joel. "In your opinion, how much trouble are our people in right now?"

"Garrett Kincaid is a madman and trigger-happy on top of it," Joel said. "His goons shot me in the leg the first time we met, and he stomped all over it just to keep the hostages in line. And he'd have shot every person in the place if Jim and Simon hadn't stopped them." His face went hard and determined. "You can't overestimate what that man is willing to do."

"Right," Benton said. In spite of the fact that his sons were in such peril, he was outwardly fairly calm aside from his stricken pallor. But his heartbeat gave him away. "I'm calling Howard. This is definitely a DHS mission, though I'm not honestly sure what they'll do."

But before he moved a step, Dmitri reached out with a hand. "Make the call if you must, Doctor Quest, but the DHS will not fight this battle alone."

Race frowned. "What do you mean?"

Dmitri looked around, his gaze stony. "This man threatens our territory, our Sentinels, and three of our Guides. This is a Sentinel matter now and even your government cannot stop us from trying to save our people."

-==OOO==-

Jonny cringed as he felt the zip-tie on his wrists start to bite uncomfortably into his skin. But he kept walking, making sure to keep to the pace set by the men in fatigues and carrying very large semi-automatic weapons. Jonny knew how people like this tended to work; if he faltered or stumbled, it might be one of the others beside him that paid the price rather than himself.

Similarly bound, Hadji was at his left with Jessie closer to his right, forming a protective little circle with Kaimi in the middle and Ngama bringing up the rear. Jonny knew Jessie and Hadji would be calm and ready for any opening they could use, having become acclimated to situations like this over a lifetime of adventures. And Ngama was stalwart and brave, maintaining a masterful control over his own fear. But Kaimi, while holding together her own terror with aplomb, had never been faced with anything like this before. She had likely never even seen a gun this large outside of the firing range at SELF, and right now Jonny couldn't remember if she'd ever been taught to use one. But in spite of her perfectly legitimate fear, she marched with her chin up and her eyes flashing. However, the pair of Sentinels knew she was shaking.

At the musical steps that lead down to where a few other terrorists were gathering the remaining hostages in the café, Jonny hesitated. If they wound up in the crowd, they'd be less likely to be recognized themselves, but also less likely to find an avenue for escape. And even though his hands were bound in front, he'd still have a tough time taking out even one of the three armed men escorting their group and making a break for it.

"No stopping!" snarled one of the men, reaching out and cuffing Jonny across the head with a stiff blow.

Jonny's feet went out from under him and he would have crashed down the staircase except for the blur that was his Guide. Somehow Hadji darted out around the nearest two of their guards and got down the first few steps, bracing Jonny with his body. As Jonny crashed into Hadji, his hands up to catch himself and Hadji holding onto the railing to keep from being sent tumbling by the sudden weight, Hadji made an almost invisible movement.

The guards were lunging for Hadji and Jessie kicked out, bringing one to his knees.

"Enough!" roared the third guard, levying his weapon at where Ngama had pulled Kaimi against himself in an attempt to shelter her. "Keep that up and these two are done!"

Jessie allowed one guard to give her arms a painful yank while the other pulled Jonny away from Hadji.

"What's going on up there?" called a voice from below.

"Just some kids making trouble," the lead guard called down.

"We can't have that," one of the men down with the growing crowd of hostages frowned. "Better put them somewhere else so they don't start giving people ideas."

"How about that?" their guard pointed to the door to the room with the cultural artifacts.

"Check it for an exit," the guard from downstairs ordered one of the others. The man ducked in for only a few moments before returning.

"No emergency exit in sight," he reported.

"Get moving!" their guard ordered, and the five of them made their careful way down the stairs and allowed themselves to be shoved into the room.

"If we hear so much as a peep out of you, we won't even open the door. We'll just shoot," their guard warned. Then he pulled the heavy wooden door shut behind him and they heard the lock turn.

Jonny surveyed the space – it was about the size of a basketball court, with the walls lined with displays and artifacts in glass cases. There were no windows to the outside or the rest of the museum.

But Jonny smiled anyway. He moved to the far corner, behind where they would be hidden from view by the bulk of a massive stuffed bison apparently named Billy. Once there, Jonny opened his fingers, revealing the pocketknife Hadji had expertly passed to him using his childhood skills at sleight-of-hand while they'd stumbled together on the stairs. In an instant, Jonny had reversed the blade and cut himself loose.

"What's the plan?" Jessie whispered, their five heads close together as Jonny made quick work of the rest of their zip-ties.

"We could just escape," Hadji said, his eyes on Ngama and Kaimi.

But Kaimi shook her head. "No way. Jim and Daryl and Blair are still here. And there's a reason we needed to be here in the first place. We have to see this through."

Ngama looked at her expression for a long moment before sighing. His Guide was correct, even if what he really wanted was to get her out of the building by any means necessary. But her safety, maybe all their safety, was not the priority right now. There were many other hostages to think about.

"All right," Jonny nodded. "These guys underestimated us because they think we're just a bunch of kids."

Jessie grinned. "Let's show them how wrong they are."


	3. Chapter 3

Yeah, it's only getting worse. Are you surprised?

Enjoy!

* * *

With the expansion of SELF, Agent Howard Fritz had moved his base to Seattle a few years prior, so he was able to arrive in Cascade via private plane around the same time the buses of Sentinels started taking over a parking garage two blocks from the museum just outside the official police perimeter.

"I'm not sure this is a good idea, Race," Benton was saying. "I'm worried about them, too. But if we interfere in a rescue operation, we could cause our own allies to disrupt one another and Kincaid could take that badly."

"Which is why we called him in," Race jerked a finger to where Howard and a van full of his most trusted agents had pulled up.

"There's a lot of chatter in the intelligence community right now," Agent Fritz said without more than a quick nod in greeting. "Whatever Kincaid is after, it's big. And he's well-funded this time."

"Isn't he supposed to be in prison?" Race asked sharply

Fritz nodded. "And he was, until about a week ago."

"Why didn't we hear about it?" Joel crossed his arms, his face stormy. "Last time he broke out, we had news within a couple of days. They _knew_ he'd come back here."

"This is a lot bigger than Kincaid. Whoever busted him out of Leavenworth also broke out a number of other prisoners, and they scrambled the computer system all to hell as well. At this point, we're having trouble corresponding which inmates escaped with the databases. Compared to some of the other people who are missing, Kincaid is small potatoes."

"Not in Cascade," Joel shook his head.

Fritz nodded. "I read the report."

"Agent Fritz," Dmitri approached, his expression closed. "You will not prevent us from doing what we must."

"I'd love to try," Fritz answered honestly. "But that would mean tranquilizing the lot of you, wouldn't it? And I don't have time for that."

"We have a plan," Race put in. "Most of the Sentinels are military-trained, covert ops soldiers. They know how to infiltrate, they know how to fight, and they have every advantage in avoiding detection and finding hostages and hostiles. They're better than any assault team you could put together in the next few hours."

"I know that," Fritz nodded. "Which is why we'll be letting your people handle that part of the operation for now. Plus, I can't get authorization for a proper DHS team yet. I've already spoken to Captain Banks. Since he and Kincaid have a history and Kincaid will be expecting him, we're having him do the negotiating. Only Banks and his superiors know we're even here, and that information was delivered via secured lines. Kincaid will see exactly what he wants to see – the Cascade PD dancing and squirming for him front and center. He won't be looking for a tactical incursion."

"Yes, he will be," Joel shook his head. "He's smart. But he doesn't know about Sentinels."

"Good enough for me, then," Fritz nodded. "We'll send in two teams – one to neutralize the threat and one to retrieve the hostages."

"Three teams," Dmitri shook his head. "One to find our people. From what Joel says, this man will have a personal grudge against Jim and Blair and Daryl."

"Any word from them yet?" Fritz turned to Benton.

"Jim and Hadji have both texted me," he nodded. "Jim, Blair, and Daryl are in a maintenance corridor between the main level and exhibit hall. Hadji and the rest of the kids are on the bottom floor locked in a small collections room, but not for long."

"Should we tell them to stay put?" Joel asked.

Race shook his head. "They won't do it. They know we're out here, they can communicate with Jim and Blair, and there's people in danger. They won't just sit around and wait to be rescued. And with Jonny and Ngama to listen for them, they stand a good chance of evading capture."

"So that's two teams already inside," Dmitri said. "If I may suggest, Galina should head up the team to neutralize the threat, Race Bannon should rescue the hostages, and I will take a few soldiers to track down our Sentinels and Guides."

"It makes sense," Benton put a hand on Race's shoulder before he could object. "The hostages are in one place, easy to find. But it will take a Sentinel to track the kids through the building. You won't have time to keep texting them. Other than Jim, Dmitri is the best Sentinel to handle the sensory input inside without the help of a Guide. And the rest of the tribe won't follow any others into combat but you, Dmitri, and Galina, so we have to separate you to head up the teams."

Race ground his teeth. Those were _his_ kids in there, and he was leaving their safety to someone else, even if it was for the greater good, even if it was someone he trusted. The look in Benton's eyes told Race that he wasn't alone in hating the fact that this arrangement was the most logical deployment of their forces.

"Sir!" called one of the DHS agents from the van. Fritz turned and headed towards it, Benton, Race, Joel, and Dmitri in his wake, Galina marshaling the remaining Sentinels into order. The van was more than just transport – it was a full mobile communications station.

"Report," Fritz ordered.

"Kincaid has called the Cascade PD and demanded to speak to Captain Banks. He's taking the call now."

"Patch it through so we can hear it," Fritz said.

After a moment, they heard the call transfer and Simon answer. "Banks here."

"It's been a while, Captain Simon Banks," drawled a voice.

"What do you want, Kincaid?"

"Why, liberty! Liberty is my game, Banks, and always has been," Kincaid answered. "Tell me, how's it feel to be a traitor to the American people?"

Simon growled. "Give me your demands for a safe release of all the hostages."

"Oh, I've got a whole _list_ of things I am _owed_ by your false government," Kincaid said, "but let's start with what really matters to us both, shall we? I've got about 75 people here, and a lot of them are children. Now, we don't want anything bad to happen to the next generation, now do we?"

"No," Simon grated out.

"Good! Then I'm going to give you a list of names. For every person on that list who shows up at the front door within the next hour, I'll let five little children go." Then his voice abruptly turned cold. "And for every person on my list who does _not_ show up within the hour, I'll shoot one. Same goes for anybody trying to get near the building who isn't on my guest list."

"You can't do that, Kincaid!"

"I believe I just did, Captain Banks. Now, have you got a pen handy?"

Simon let out an audible breath. "Go ahead."

"I want Jim Ellison, Blair Sandburg, Jonny Quest, Hadji Singh, and Doctor Benton Quest himself."

Race swore loudly.

"You've got one hour, Captain Banks. You should be grateful I didn't call your name or your boy's, but I gotta have somebody I can talk to out there and I hear my old buddy Captain Taggart retired. Remember, if I don't see my new guests, you're gonna start counting bodies."

-==OOO==-

Inside the museum, Jim froze, his jaw tensing so hard Blair thought he might break his teeth from grinding them together. Blair watched his partner, who was clearly listening to something beyond the service hallway they had been slowly exploring, begin to vibrate. With rage.

Suddenly Jim broke off listening and slammed a fist against his thigh – Blair knew if they weren't trying to be quiet, that fist would have gone into the wall.

"What is it?" he whispered.

"Kincaid is ransoming some of the hostages for a list of people. He'll let 25 kids go if you, me, Benton, Hadji, and Jonny all surrender to him." He sighed. "And he'll kill a kid if any of us don't show up."

Blair swallowed against a suddenly dry throat. "How much time?"

"An hour."

"Then let's get moving," Blair rolled his shoulders in a totally futile attempt to banish the tension. "Because I don't want to be anywhere near Kincaid in an hour."

"Me either," Jim said.

Beside them, Daryl clenched his hands. He was unspeakably grateful that he hadn't been singled out, and neither had Jessie, but he couldn't just let his friends walk into Kincaid's hands. He couldn't. He had to think of some way to keep that from happening.

-==OOO==-

"Got it!" Jonny whispered.

The pair of Sentinels had moved around the room, senses wide open, looking for anything that might help them. They'd discovered that there was a hidden door, probably long unused, behind one of the display dioramas. It had taken some effort, and some creative balancing, to figure out how to get behind the scene of pre-settler Washington to figure out if they could open it without setting off an alarm.

"Jonny," Hadji whispered urgently from the front of the display. "Your father sent a message."

Jonny braced his shoulder against the background so it wouldn't flatten itself against the wall again – undoing the last 10 minutes of work to squeeze back here – and pulled out his phone. He read the urgent text quickly.

"This isn't good," Jessie said, sliding into the gap between the wall and the scene to join him and brace some of the weight. "We've got to end this before the time is up."

"And that starts with getting out of here," Kaimi nodded. "So, what do you think? Is it passable?"

"I hear no sounds of people beyond the door," Ngama offered.

Jonny was focusing much more closely on the door itself, searching for alarms. "What are the chances," he called over his shoulder, "that you could do that Seventh thing and make sure there's nothing I'm about to set off here?"

"You should be able to hear or sense if the door is wired," Hadji replied.

"Well, yeah, normally. But whatever's back there has a really clean smell to it, so I'm thinking there's some kind of artifact storage not too far away. So they might not have wired the door but there could be a motion sensor or something and I can't isolate it that far out." Jonny shifted the weight of the diorama on his shoulder. "I hear lots of alarms and sensors and security cameras, but I don't know which ones are pointed at this door."

"We can but try," Hadji said after a moment. He crossed his feet and sank to the floor, Kami dropping to one knee beside him. "Do not attempt to anchor us this time," Hadji said warningly. "You must remain present here to listen for danger. We are enough for this task." They closed their eyes and bowed their heads.

Jonny felt the familiar snap of his bond with Hadji. It was an act of will not to close his own eyes and drop into meditation to join Hadji, to stand on the Seventh Step and keep him from being lost. But Hadji was right. The Sentinels could not be oblivious in their minds right now. But, if Jonny correctly judged the tension in Ngama's own breathing and heart-rate, he wasn't alone in not liking it.

However, they only had to wait a few minutes before the pair of Guides opened their eyes.

"There is a hallway beyond that leads to several storage rooms as well as laboratories for restoration," Hadji said. "There are no motion sensors in the hall, but there is a camera. The camera is digital and only moderately advanced. It has frozen up and can no longer record or send any image but the last frame it has in its memory."

"Good work," Jessie approved, rolling her shoulders. "Now, let's get out of here."

"Is there a plan?" Kaimi wanted to know.

"Jim, Blair, and Daryl are several stories above us in another corridor that I believe is not open to the public," Ngama reported. "I think they are tracking someone, as they keep stopping for Jim to ascertain which way to go."

"They'll head for whatever our opponents are using as a command center," Hadji said. "Which is likely the security room where they can monitor the situation inside and out."

"Well, if they're covering that end, we should try to figure out how to help the hostages," Jessie said. "Or else figure out if they've got some reason they took the museum specifically."

At that, Kaimi took in a deep breath. "They did. I _Know_ they did."

Ngama put an arm around her shoulders. "They have a target other than our friends?"

"Yeah…but I can't be sure what. Other than, well…" She shook her head. "It sounds stupid, but I think they're going to destroy the dinosaur fossils while they're here."

"It _is_ stupid, but these are terrorists we're talking about," Jonny said, angling to where he could see her more clearly from where he wedged the display away from the door. "They've got a couple of screws loose at least."

"So we must protect the dinosaurs and the hostages?" Hadji asked.

"And ourselves," Jonny answered. "And we've got an hour before you and me gotta walk into the lion's den. If we're going in there, I want to know a lot more about what's going on here and why."

"It won't come to that," Jessie said staunchly. "Jim and Blair and Daryl will handle things."

"Then let's get moving," Jonny turned back to the door. "Ngama, you keep an ear out for those guys getting any ideas about the fossils. Dad'll kill me if I let them destroy those bones. We'll start with the human hostages, but we have to try to look out for the inhuman ones, too."

-==OOO==-

"This really sucks," Daryl said under his breath. "We're going in circles."

"Not circles," Jim shook his head. "But you're right that we don't seem to be getting anywhere."

"It's like a maze in here," Blair said, peeking back down the corridor. "And here I thought theaters were bad for having all kinds of crazy rooms and hallways with no pattern to them."

"I think this _was_ a theater once," Daryl offered. "At least part of it. Some of the building is pretty old, even if the rest is new."

"What we need is a guide. A guide-guide," Jim said, winking at Blair. Then he tipped his head. "And maybe I've got one."

Jim led the way across the hall, alert for any sound of approaching footsteps. Around a sharp corner, he spotted an out-of-the-way closet that smelled of floor wax. He gestured to the door with his head, then set himself to watch the corner. Blair took the hint and crept do the door.

Without any better ideas, he knocked softly. "Uh…excuse me? Is someone in there?" Then, in case it helped, "I'm with the police. Can you open the door? Are you hurt?"

There was a long pause and then the knob turned slowly. Blair stepped back and put up his hands in a non-threatening manner.

"If you're lying," came a strong voice, "you'll be sorry."

Blair blinked and then smiled at the fierce girl before him. Barely cracking five feet in height, she was probably in her mid-twenties, with boyishly-cut straight brown hair and a round face white with fear but set in a frightened glare. She was sturdily built, easily able to wield the huge spray-can of some sort of cleaning chemical, which she was currently aiming at Blair's face.

"It's okay," he said soothingly. He liked her immediately. "We're the good guys. Promise."

"I know you," she said, suddenly surprised. "You're Blair Sandburg. Doctor Sandburg, I mean." At his answering surprise, she lowered the makeshift weapon. "My dad works for the university. I'm Cat Terrison. My dad is Marcus Terrison in the English department."

"Okay. So you know I'm not one of the bad guys, right?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Dad told me all the gossip. What are you doing here?"

"Would you believe we were in the wrong place at the wrong time?" Blair smiled. He knew time was of the essence, but the more he could calm Cat and earn her trust, the easier it would be for them to count on her for help.

Cat shrugged. "You and everybody else."

"That's my partner, Detective Jim Ellison," Blair pointed to where Jim had taken up his protective stance with Daryl at his side. "And the kid is our captain's son, Daryl. We've been avoiding the bad guys so far, but we could use your help."

"What do you expect me to do?" she raised an eyebrow. "Other than spray bleach in all their faces?"

"You know the museum well?"

At this, Cat unconsciously squared her shoulders with pride. "I've been a volunteer here for almost ten years. I give the tours to new volunteers and employees."

"Perfect," Blair approved. "Because we could really use somebody who knows where we're going before we stumble into something."

Cat hesitated, looking back at her closet. Blair didn't blame her. Crazy terrorists shooting the place up? From her smock, Blair guessed she'd been working at one of the science stations and had only barely escaped detection herself. She didn't look like anybody's idea of Wonder Woman.

But that was only for those failing to look closely. Blair saw the light of determination win out over desperation in her eyes, saw her settle into a fragile trust that was based more on their need for her than whether or not going with them was sensible.

 _The real heroes_ , Blair thought, _are the ones who stand up and fight when there's nowhere to go. Maybe even because there's nowhere to go. Wonder Woman's got nothing on you, Cat_.

"What do you need to know?" she asked, moving fully out of the closet. After a moment's consideration, she set the bleach back inside and shut the door. Blair nodded; it had been a good idea, but it was huge and bulky and might slow her down if they had to run.

"We're figuring the guy in charge of all these nutjobs is holed up in some sort of security room," Blair said, leading the way back to Jim and Daryl. "

"Wherever all the cameras and controls are," Jim nodded at her in greeting. "Jim Ellison."

"I'm Cat. And, technically there's two rooms like that," Cat said. "There's the big security area up a couple of floors up from here. That's where the security guards keep an eye on things. So it's probably what you want." She took off her round glasses to wipe them with hands that only slightly shook.

"What about the other one?" Daryl asked suddenly.

"When they remodeled the little planetarium to make it compatible with IMAX films a few years ago, they added a secondary security area to its controls. Since we show movies sometimes outside of normal museum hours, it was easier to have the staff security just stay at the theater since that's where the people were. But it works for the whole museum."

Jim, Daryl, and Blair all exchanged significant glances. "I'll text Jessie," Blair offered.

At Cat's frown, Jim explained, "We've got a few more friends on the loose in here. They don't know their way around, but I'm assuming neither do Kincaid's people. They might be able to use that other security room to help us out."

"Tell them that there's two ways down to it – one from the first basement level under the public part of the museum, and also a tiny back stairwell from inside the planetarium itself. I can give you better directions if you need them," Cat said. "This place is tricky to navigate since the public area only has about four really tall floors, but back here in the private area there are sixteen."

"We'll start with what we've got and they'll let us know if they need more," Jim said. "Can you get us to the upstairs control room?"

"Sure," Cat said. "But there's about six ways to get anywhere in this building, so we might end up needing to go the long way around. Depends on if you want to get there fast or if you want to get there without getting noticed."

"Definitely the second one," Blair said.

"Okay. If we keep going down this hall, then, we'll hit the older part of the building. There's not a lot of cameras in there since it's mainly storage of non-valuable artifacts and basic stuff like signs and old experiments and that kind of thing. I think I can get you through there without them really seeing much of us."

Jim noted her focus on her words and the plan and recognized it as a coping mechanism. He patted her on the shoulder. "You're doing fine. Just stick with us. And if Sandburg or I gives you an order, either of you," he caught Daryl's eye as well, "you follow it and don't ask questions. We'll do our best to protect you."

"Just get these guys out of my museum before they break anything," Cat said with real anger.

Blair thought about the dinosaurs but said nothing. He hoped Kaimi and Hadji were handling that end of things.

-==OOO==-

Benton watched, feeling helpless, as the Sentinel teams began arming and armoring themselves from the small truck that had appeared not long after Agent Fritz.

"I still think I should be going with you," he said to Race, who was tightening the straps on a bullet-proof vest.

"Doc, listen," Race said with a soft warmth, "I know that you want to be there for the kids. And I know that the minute Kincaid called your name you started carrying guilt like a camel carrying humps. But you can't actually tell me that your big brain thinks the most logical thing is for you to go in there shooting."

Benton frowned. "Who said anything about shooting?"

"I did," Dmitri said firmly. "These terrorists have attacked us at our heart in our own territory and demand our Sentinels and Guides. Any who do not surrender to face your justice will certainly face ours."

Benton turned in surprise to Fritz, who shrugged. "Go ahead. _You_ talk them out of it. I'll be here when that discussion ends sometime _next Thursday_."

"We'll take those alive that we can," Galina put in, expertly snapping a full clip into her sidearm. "We must learn on whose orders these men have acted. But we will not permit a single civilian to be harmed, to say nothing of our own tribe."

"This is not a fight for you, Benton," Race turned back to his friend. "You're the bravest man I've ever known, but you're not a soldier. This is what you pay me for, Doc."

"Do I pay you?" Benton tried to smile tiredly. "I'd lost track. You're family."

Race grinned at him. "That's one of those things I like about you, Benton. Always the priorities." Then he sobered. "You understand?"

Benton nodded. "But I can't sit here and do nothing."

"Then I have a suggestion for you," Dmitri said. He waved and two more joined their little group.

"What are you doing here?" Benton frowned darkly at Angie and Melly who clung to one another's hands but faced him defiantly.

"I called them in," Galina said. "They are perfect for what is needed."

Benton crossed his arms and waited before letting himself grow angry.

But Angie spoke up. "All the Sentinels are going in. And I've been practicing listening to them. It helps me sleep."

"She means," Melly explained, "she memorizes each person's sound, whatever she can hear. Talking or if they walk funny or like Roberto who has a funny heartbeat. It makes her feel better."

"I can't tell them all apart, but there's someone in all the teams I can tell by listening," she said. "I'm not going in, but I can listen from here and track the people I know and tell you what's going on. And Melly will keep me from zoning."

"But we don't…" Melly stopped and look at her foot, absently kicking the prosthetic against the ground.

"Don't what?" Benton asked gently.

Neither girl looked up; then again, Angie almost never made eye-contact with anyone except her Guide, and Melly had a habit of looking disinterestedly off to the side when most people were talking to her. So Benton was surprised when Joel, who had been texting furiously with Simon, moved to stand before them and they both looked into his face.

"It's all right," Joel told them. "I can explain it."

Both girls relaxed visibly.

Joel turned to Benton. "They don't trust Agent Fritz. They don't know him and he doesn't know how to talk to them. They won't be able to report to him."

"But they'll talk to you?" Benton asked.

Joel nodded. "And you. And you're the one who's going to stay with them. I have to go down and wait right outside the place we're sneaking in through so I can receive the hostages and lead them to safety. If Kincaid's goons spot me there, he'll assume I'm working with Simon's people. But you can stay here and help the girls monitor the situation."

Benton wanted to argue, but the slightest twitch of Angie beside him drew his attention. Though Angie was only slightly younger than Ngama, the youngest of the Chancery students, a lifetime in the system had stunted her educationally and she was still at a mid-high school level in her studies. Additionally, Benton knew she was neuro-atypical, though he wasn't comfortable nailing down a specific diagnosis like autism as she'd been termed while in managed care. He knew she was easily made anxious, even with Melly beside her to help, and realized that she was probably just as frightened as she'd been the first week at SELF. She was in a dangerous, unstable situation, and her Sentinel nature longed to help but she was not able to do so. _She_ longed to help.

Benton wanted to put a hand on her shoulder, but he knew she often found touch uncomfortable, so he cleared his throat instead. She looked up and he smiled at her.

"All right. If you're up for this?" he asked as gently as he could.

Angie nodded. "Absolutely. We can do this." She glanced to her Guide and then pulled the younger girl into her arms. "As long as you're not mad at us."

Benton blinked in surprise. "Mad? Why would I be?"

But Joel reached out gently. Angie regarded him for a long moment before she shifted enough that he could put a large hand on her forearm, curling the other around Melly's hands wrapped tightly in her Sentinel's. "It's not your fault that you're not in there with them. Not any more than it's my fault that I'm not there, or Benton's."

"But if we…" Angie started, then stopped and looked away.

"If I was a real Guide," Melly spoke up with a belling challenge in her voice, "we'd have had the same dream and we'd have gone too."

"You _are_ a real Guide," Benton assured her. "But Hadji didn't have many dreams like that at your age, either. You have to allow yourself to grow into your full potential in your own time. Both of you. Nobody resents you for that."

"In a way," Race said suddenly, "it's a good thing you aren't in there. That leaves us a Sentinel and a Guide who can stay behind and listen for us. If you were there now, we wouldn't have anyone out here to keep track of us."

Angie and Melly shared the same release of breath and looked at Race, then Benton, and smiled.

"Now," Galina looked at the girls firmly, "you protect Doctor Quest. You and Agent Fritz are all we can leave behind with him who will be here."

"I understand," Angie met the senior Sentinel's eyes resolutely. "I'll protect him."

"All of you be safe," Benton said a little desperately.

Joel moved from the girls and Benton stepped to be beside them. He smiled at them, then Benton. "We won't let you down, sir."

"You never could, Joel," Benton said.

The group began to move out, Galina's strike team of twenty grim and steady. Dmitri's little force was made up of only himself and three others, all ex-soldiers who had been at SELF long enough that they had the least chance of zoning if they had to split up entirely in the unknown situation. Race had a group of thirty under his command, but many of those, like Joel, would remain stationed outside to help move hostages away from the museum as quickly as possible. The rest of the Sentinels of SELF who had piled into buses to race to the museum – all but those on perimeter guard duty, the most infirm, or the ones with the least reliable senses had remained at the lodge to guard it with Ivanna – were spreading out around the museum, inside the police perimeter when they could. In teams of three, they would watch and listen for any intelligence that might help the operation and relay it via the phones to everyone directly.

Race stopped his group long enough to turn back and face his best friend.

"I'll get them out, Benton," he promised, and they both knew he intended to rescue everybody, of course, but his thoughts were for a certain group of kids. "I'll bring them back."

"I know you will," Benton gave Race a rare hug. "I trust you."

-==OOO==-

"What _is_ this place?" Daryl asked, looking around with astonishment.

"Storage," Cat said, navigating between rows and rows of dusty shelves covered with an unending array of strange items. "Old exhibit parts, stuff that got donated but we never use, and everything left over from before the place was a museum."

"Is that a _leg_?"

Cat grinned at him. "Apparently, when this part of the building was an opera house kind of theater, they had a two-story tall nutcracker who would get put out instead of a Christmas tree during the holiday season. I think his head's way over there," she pointed.

Jim had to fight to stay focused, stretching his senses for possible danger. But Blair was there to help him keep his mind on his dials and not get sidetracked by the collection around him. Jim was also quietly glad that the items here, while vaguely historical, weren't of anthropological value themselves. Otherwise he'd never have gotten Blair out of there. But, as Cat had explained, this part of the building was the oldest part, not climate controlled or 'clean' in the sense of preservation, so there wasn't really anything here that was worth specially saving.

It was also, Jim and Blair both noted the instant they crossed the threshold and their senses started to vibrate in warning, probably haunted. But that was even less relevant.

Suddenly Jim's hearing picked up Kincaid's voice and he honed in on the conversation.

"Some of the new boys are starting to get restless. Seems they have some kind of religious problem with the dinosaur bones," he said. "Stupid thing to get worked up about, but we did promise them some fun."

"I have no objection. They've earned a little bonus so far," replied a voice that Jim found oddly familiar. "And we should have some time before our guests arrive."

"Mister Southern," Kincaid addressed a man Jim recalled from both previous encounters as his most loyal follower, "reallocate our forces to spare a couple of the truly devout to go do their duty to whatever the hell they believe in."

"Yes, sir."

"They're on the move," Jim said. "Spreading out so a couple of their guys can go break up the fossils? Something about religion?"

Cat drew in a sharp breath. "We got threats at the museum. I guess there's a group of people out there who believe dinosaurs are a big myth designed to somehow destroy religion?"

"It makes sense," Blair said. At Cat's glare, he shook his head. "Not _them_. That's deluded. No, but it makes sense that people like that would sign on with Kincaid. Not all extremists play well together, but sometimes they team up because their crazy overlaps."

"Well, right now I'm a lot more worried about us than the bones," Jim said.

Cat looked like she was getting ready to argue, but Blair put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. Our friends are out there, and they won't let anything happen to the exhibit."

"Jim?" Daryl asked. "Are they saying something else?"

Jim nodded and once again tracked Kincaid's voice. "…I haven't seen Ellison anywhere yet."

"He'll come. He's too much of a hero not to give himself up to save some kids," the familiar voice sneered. "But it'll be interesting to see if he actually brings Sandburg along. Sentinels are supposedly very protective of a Guide, and in my experience, he's no exception."

Jim jerked back to himself. "They know about Sentinels!" he said urgently. "Whoever is with Kincaid is telling him about Sentinels _and_ Guides!"

"How?" Blair asked. "There's no way Kincaid could know that!"

"Whoever he is, he said he has experience of…" Jim trailed off as his mind finally put a name and face to the voice.

"What is it?" Daryl asked.

Jim wanted to be wrong. He refocused to continue to listen.

Kincaid was speaking. "Well, the last time I was here, I didn't know Ellison was anywhere nearby until he showed up at the docks and ruined everything. And Sandburg attacked my men from out of nowhere with a _hotdog cart_."

"I guess there's an outside chance they could already be in the building, even if it's pretty unlikely. I'd say we've got another ten to fifteen minutes before we need to start worrying about incursions. But, if it'll make you feel better, I've got just the thing."

Jim wrenched himself back and grabbed for his phone, keying in Jonny's number as quickly as he could. The instant it buzzed, he said as loudly as he dared, "Turn it all down! Now! Both you and Ngama!"

"Jim, what is it?" Blair looked at him in concern.

Jim took a deep breath and tried to drive his senses as low as he could stand it, just before a horrible, piercing noise penetrated the very walls and seemed to rattle his skull. Jim folded down, clutching his head and willing the sound to stop before he started screaming. If he'd had his dials up at all, he'd have been shrieking in agony.

But he managed to gasp out around the pain, "It's Lee Brackett, Blair. He's teamed up with Kincaid."

 _Oh god help us_.


	4. Chapter 4

Lost of ass-kicking goodness. Time for the action!

That said, I woke up from a perfectly lovely nap to post this for you (yeah, it's 8pm where I am and I can TOTALLY nap in the evening – it's a gift), which just shows you all how much I love you.

Enjoy!

* * *

There was no warning. One moment, Joel was crouching in the landscaped back garden of the museum, his back to the parking garage in one of the few blind-spots of the surveillance cameras, Hasna and Antonio beside him waiting anxiously for any of the teams to signal. He'd been grateful to find good, thick cover right up at the edge of the building – a nice change from the last time when Kincaid had been able to maintain a deadly perimeter around the basketball arena.

The next moment, both Sentinels dropped to the ground, Hasna crouching low and pressing her face to her legs, Antonio curled into the fetal position on his side. Both clutched their heads, keening in pain.

"Oh god," Joel put a hand on Hasna's shoulder. His first instinct was to comfort her, to try to talk her through whatever was creating the sensory spike. But a moment later his training caught up with him.

Joel snapped on the backup radio Agent Fritz had insisted everyone carry even though the Sentinels could communicate with one another directly. "Something's happening," he reported over the line that went to Fritz, Simon, and the rest of the SELF members in play. "My Sentinels had their senses wide open and they're getting hit – _hard_."

"Is your position compromised?" Fritz shot back.

"No," Joel looked up, but nothing at the museum seemed to have changed. Then, with a horrible lurch in his stomach, "but I'll bet everyone else inside got hit by surprise. They might all be in trouble now."

"Hold your position," Simon ordered. "Bannon will still try to get the hostages to you if he can. Help anybody nearby if you get the chance."

"I'm on it," Joel affirmed.

With one eye on the museum for trouble, he focused on Hasna, who was closer. "Come on. I know it hurts. I need you to turn it down. I know you can hear me. I need your help here, Sentinel…"

-==OOO==-

Race had never been so grateful for the speed of Jessie's messaging shorthand. "Everybody okay?" he mouthed.

Around him, his group of Sentinels, most at least wincing, nodded shakily.

Race mimed turning a dial down and pointed to his own ears, affirming that they should keep their hearing as low as they could. A few of the Sentinels in his group had drilled with him in the last year, and they all had gone through the security and perimeter training that was part of the introduction to life at the lodge, so they knew a few of his simplest hand-signs. Race signaled for a few to use touch to sense if any footsteps were approaching and took a few steps forward himself to see what he could hear.

One-handed, he sent a reply text to Jessie. "Thanks." If she hadn't messaged himself, Galina, and Dmitri, warning them that Jim had sent the order for all Sentinels to turn everything down, his group would be doing more than flinching and grimacing at whatever sound still penetrated their control.

 _And this would be a bad time for screaming_ , he thought, looking wryly at the service stairwell that led from the juncture where the museum met the parking garage into the new part of the building. It was all concrete and echoed terribly – even one of his team yelling would have been heard on every floor of the building.

That was another reason the three strike teams were entering at different points. If something like this had caught one team unawares, the others might continue on undiscovered.

 _Too bad we lost our listening advantage_ , Race thought to himself as he crept up the stairs. _Now we're blind and deaf in here_.

The phone in his pocket vibrated silently. Race pulled it out to see a quick message from Galina, confirming that her team was still on target. Her first goal was to eliminate the armed forces surrounding the hostages in the café area.

Race replied to affirm that he and his team would be ready to cover the hostages' escape when she gave the signal.

Then he quickly typed out a message. "Jess? You okay?"

When she didn't respond at once, Race felt cold worry steal into his stomach.

He messaged Dmitri. "I think the kids are in trouble."

That lack of reply was even worse.

-==OOO==-

"Don't let go yet," Jessie whispered.

Crammed into the shadows under a flight of stairs, the Guides nodded fractionally. Hadji had one hand over his Sentinel's mouth and had buried Jonny's head in his chest, wrapping the rest of himself around his brother to try to constrain his pained twitching. Ngama was similarly held by Kaimi, though she had pulled his head to her shoulder and tried to muffle him against her neck. Both Sentinels were almost unable to help themselves, clinging to their ears as if they could drive out the pain it sent.

And that was _with_ warning.

"We've got to put a stop to whatever's making that noise," Jessie said mostly to herself, but just loud enough in case anyone on their side was able to listen past whatever was producing the apparently hideous sound. It wasn't likely, but Jim was still out there, and he had Blair with him.

"We aren't going to get far with them in this state," Kaimi pointed out.

"Then we must separate," Hadji said firmly. "And we must ease their suffering."

Without waiting for the questions he knew would come, Hadji lowered his head and nudged Jonny until the Sentinel opened his tightly-squeezed eyes.

"Trust me," Hadji said, enunciating the words clearly.

Jonny nodded and closed his eyes again.

And Hadji reached into himself and _pushed_. An instant later, Jonny went slack in his arms as if unconscious.

"You zoned him," Kaimi whispered with wide eyes.

Hadji nodded. "I will do the same to Ngama if he will permit me."

Ngama's eyes cracked open and he separated from his Guide's shoulder long enough to whimper loudly and nod clearly at Hadji. Hadji stretched a hand to him and in a moment he, too, slumped into a deep zone.

"It was the only way," Hadji said at the surprise from the two girls. "Whatever that noise is, even with their dials as tightly controlled as possible, they were still almost incoherent with pain. We must be quite close to the source of it. If we can eliminate it, we can lift them out of the zone and they will again be able to function. But for now, they are a greater liability awake."

"You're not wrong," Jessie said. "But we can't just leave them here, either."

"Then you must go," Hadji said to her. "Both of you. I can guard our Sentinels and I will be able to immediately wake them when it is safe to do so. But I think you two must go together to guard one another against danger as you find and eliminate the source of that pain."

Kaimi tightened her fists, catching a lock of her her blue-streaked hair in her hands and tugging in frustration. Leaving her Sentinel felt wrong in every way – leaving him vulnerable, in a zone, in a dangerous situation – and yet she couldn't help him unless they eliminated the noise. And it was true that Hadji could probably guard them alone better than she. And she didn't want Jessie going without someone to watch her back. He wasn't wrong about any of it. That was what made her so upset.

Hadji met her eyes steadily, reading every one of those thoughts and agreeing with them.

Suddenly he reached out a hand and she brought down her fists to capture it in a grip that trembled.

"I give you my word, Sister Guide, that I will give my life to defend your Sentinel if I must. I will watch over him as if he were my own. I will protect him with all my power."

Kaimi took a deep breath and nodded. "Their watch is yours, Docent Guide," she whispered.

"Stay in touch," Jessie said to him, meeting his eyes fiercely.

Jessie peeked out into the hall and then she and Kaimi bolted from their hiding place and dashed away.

Hadji rearranged the two Sentinels to be in the deepest shadows under the stairs, hidden by a few piled chairs, and set himself to stand vigil over them with his own senses and alternate awareness as wide open as he could bear.

-==OOO==-

"What's happening to him?" Cat asked. "No, scratch that. How do we help?"

Daryl was suddenly stricken as he fought to find a way to explain Jim's strange behavior, almost convulsing in Blair's arms from whatever he was hearing.

But Cat continued. "Is this more of that sensory stuff? Since he was clearly listening to things no normal person could hear, and, like I said, my dad's a prof at Rainier so I know some of Doctor Sandburg's, uh, _history_."

Daryl realized they hadn't been exactly subtle about using Jim's senses in the last few minutes. _We're so used to being open about them with SELF, we sorta forgot she wasn't with us_ , he thought abashedly.

"Listen," he began.

But Cat waved a hand. "Oh, I'll ask lots of questions later. I'll even take notes. And don't think you'll avoid me, either. But it's clearly not the time, you know."

"We've got to shut off whatever's making that noise," Blair said from where he was trying to shelter his Sentinel. "It's not just Jim. This is happening to Jonny and Ngama and all the others, too."

Suddenly Blair froze. Every hair on the back of his neck stood up. "Hide!" he commanded sharply.

Cat obeyed without hesitation, diving into the nearest stack of stored items and practically dragging Daryl after her. He discovered that several of the old displays had been shoved into the space between shelves, but there was a narrow margin between them. It was a tight fit, and he and Cat were pressed uncomfortably in place, but they were well-hidden.

"What about Jim and Blair?" Daryl argued, though he didn't resist her pulling him into hiding.

"What good are we going to do them if we don't get out of here?" she shot back. "Either they'll be okay or they won't, but if we aren't okay, we won't be able to help!"

"Are you sure you've never done this before?" Daryl found himself asking.

Cat didn't spare him a disparaging glance, but he felt it anyway.

Out in the middle of the floor, Jim dragged himself up out of the sensory chaos that felt as if he were drowning in a turbulent ocean. "You too, Chief," he managed.

But Blair shook his head. "No way, man. First of all, I'm not leaving you alone with Kincaid _or_ Brackett. Second of all, if Brackett is already prepared for Sentinels, he's got to know I'll be here with you. You think he'll buy a story that you came in without me?"

Jim pressed his lips together against a wash of stabbing pain and fought to align his thoughts. "Rule number one…remember, Sandburg?"

"Protect the Guide, I know," Blair nodded with a small, lopsided smile. "But now _you_ remember. That's a Sentinel rule. The _Guide_ rule number one is that the Sentinel must protect the tribe, so the Guide protects the Sentinel in turn. I'm not leaving you, buddy. Not when they know how to hurt you."

"Hurt you, too."

"No _way_ ," Blair shook his head and tightened his grip. "Brackett doesn't know the first thing about what a pissed off Guide can do."

There was the sound of footsteps not far away, clearly tracking them by the noise Jim couldn't help but make as he tried so hard to manage his dials and failed in the face of that awful sound.

"But they're gonna find out," Blair promised with his own fury as he readied himself.

-==OOO==-

Galina glanced at her watch in irritation. Already her team had been inside for more than half an hour, which meant they were rapidly approaching the deadline set by their enemy to turn over Doctor Quest and the two Sentinel-Guide pairs. And still there had been no word from Dmitri. Every time Galina even attempted to listen to anything, opening her hearing above what seemed like pure deafness, she felt that echo of something painful. And with every cautious step they took farther into the building, the worse it got. She could not imagine what Jim must be experiencing, as at last reports he had been several stories up. If she had been hit by it any closer to its source, she was certain she would be mad with it, or lost in a zone. As it was, she had lost a portion of her force to it, and the best marksman on her team to guard them in a hidden corner.

But even Jim could not have withstood this sound for that long. And that meant his Guide was in danger, to say nothing of the younger Guides also somewhere in the building.

Galina texted Race. "If we do not hear from Dmitri in 5 minutes, we will move on our objectives without his input."

-==OOO==-

In a disused back hallway between security cameras, Daryl and Cat found Jessie and Kaimi having coordinated via text.

"We've got to shut that noise machine down," Jessie said after giving Daryl a brief, relieved hug.

"Yeah, and Cat's got an idea how we can do that," Daryl smiled at his new friend. "Might be a little tricky, but I figure we can pull it off if we work together."

"At this point, we'll take anything," Kaimi said, a little pale. She couldn't help but think about Ngama, lost in a zone, even though Hadji affirmed via the presence of his tawny eagle at regular intervals that both Sentinels were all right for now.

"We have to get all the way to the basement," Cat told them. "If any of you know anything about wiring, you can probably do a lot of good if we can just get there in one piece."

Jessie nodded. "Lead on."

-==OOO==-

Race's phone buzzed with a message from Jessie that read, "We've got a plan to get rid of the thing that is disabling the Sentinels. We wanted to meet up with Dmitri for support, but he's not answering. Any idea where he was heading?"

"Towards you kids, wherever you were," Race typed back. Then, "Get ready to take cover. Galina and I are moving in exactly 3 minutes."

She replied back, "Wait. Give us 10. We'll go in without Dmitri."

"Cutting it pretty close to the deadline," he told her.

"I know. But trust us."

Race did.

-==OOO==-

"Well, well. If it isn't my old friend _Mister Natural_ ," Kincaid smiled with mocking satisfaction. "Not looking so tough today though, Ellison," he sneered.

"Actually, that's _Doctor_ Natural now." Blair had his hands behind him, bound with brutally-tight zip-ties, but he was on his own feet anyway and no worse for the wear. Jim had been basically dragged by a pair of goons all the way into the slightly cramped security office. He hadn't resisted so much as he had trouble keeping his legs moving in a coordinated fashion. And here, where even Blair could sense an oddness in the air, Jim was almost unconscious but for his stubborn refusal to give up in the presence of his enemies.

"A doctor of what, exactly?" Kincaid taunted. "Other than traitorous, unnatural behavior, of course."

Blair ignored the dig. "Nice trick you got there," he said, looking at Kincaid with absolute loathing. "Picked that up in prison, did you?"

"I gave it to him," came the equally-hated voice of Lee Brackett as the man himself sauntered into the room from another door.

"Surprised?" Kincaid gloated.

Blair shook his head and affected nonchalance. "No way. I can _smell_ that slime a mile away. Careful, Kincaid," he dared. "You don't want to get any grosser than you are by hanging out with somebody like Brackett."

"For once, we agree on something," Kincaid acknowledged. "Of all the ex-military types I have met, he's one of the least scrupulous of them all. But he has his uses."

"And so do you, Sandburg," Brackett told him. "You and your Sentinel."

Even if it was pointless, he tried. "Don't know what you're talking about, Brackett."

Without warning, Kincaid strode forward and cuffed Blair hard. "You know the punishment for insubordination, Sandburg. Trust me, you don't have the balls to pay it for a second offense."

While Blair was reeling, Brackett was picking something off the nearby desk. The room looked like it had been an office once, complete with a big picture window, but now it contained a huge bank of fat monitors and a mismatched set of chairs strewn about. The windows had even been tightly covered with shades taped down to prevent glare making the security screens hard to read. It took Blair a moment to identify what he was seeing in Brackett's hands.

It was a pair of headphones attached by a long cord to a box on the desk that gave Blair a shiver of discomfort.

"Don't!" he cried before he could help it.

"Don't what?" Brackett looked at him with sinister innocence. "I'm not sure what you're so concerned about, _Guide_."

Blair licked his lips nervously. He could continue to deny Jim's Sentinel nature, but then Brackett was clearly prepared to pipe that horrible noise directly into Jim's ears. He could go deaf. Or he could zone so deeply Blair wouldn't be able to get him out of it. At least now Jim was partially conscious still.

"Say it," Kincaid ordered. "Out loud so we normals can hear you. Or he'll get worse than that, I _promise_ you."

Jim made a wordless grunt, then flinched as if even speaking brought the audible agony closer to him.

"Jim's a Sentinel and I'm his Guide," Blair admitted bitterly.

"See?" Brackett calmly turned and set the headphones back on the desk. "Quite reasonable."

"Where'd you get that thing, anyway?" Blair asked, partly out of genuine curiosity and partly to keep the man talking.

"Some friends helped me to build it," he answered. "Although, I am impressed. Ellison is the first Sentinel I have ever seen able to remain awake in its presence. Most drop before coming within yards of it. Too bad the sound-waves lose some of their integrity over a long distance or this would be much more useful in the field. Or maybe the difference isn't Ellison, but Sandburg."

"You're not suggesting _this_ little cockroach is responsible for Ellison's resistance, are you?" Kincaid looked at Blair with distaste. "Isn't it possible that Ellison is just a freak among freaks?"

"I don't know," Brackett shrugged, turning his dead eyes on Blair. "I'd love to find out, though."

"Whatever you're implying, I'm so not down with it," Blair told him. "We're not lab rats, man."

"No," Brackett smiled darkly. "You're the bait."

-==OOO==-

 _I hope this works_ , Daryl prayed. He nodded at Kaimi who furiously typed their last outgoing message to everybody.

"It's time. Going dark now!"

Cat swallowed thickly, her hand on the switch to react only seconds after Jessie.

Jessie took a deep breath and touched the two exposed wires together.

There was a moment of nothing and then chaos reigned.

-==OOO==-

Blair had seen the sudden flash of Kaimi's albatross, so he was forewarned. However, even the urgent flight of the huge bird wasn't enough to prepare him for the sudden darkness that fell in the room.

Apparently, the light wasn't all that had gone out.

With a near-primal _roar_ , Jim surged from where he'd been held between a pair of unsuspecting goons who had been too confident to bother to restrain him. The noise machine had clearly stopped and the Sentinel was back, fully conscious and utterly enraged. With the windows blacked out, Blair couldn't see much of anything so he made the strategic decision to drop to the ground – after all, Jim would be able to see him, and he didn't want to run into anybody else.

That turned out to be a smart choice given the bullets that started to rip haphazardly through the room. There was a pained cry, and it wasn't Jim, so Blair opted to care later and focused on keeping his balance where he knelt, trying to get his hands free.

"No!" Jim shouted from across the room where Blair could hear him struggling with a few terrorists.

Then there was a hand feeling blindly in the dark, seizing his arm and yanking him up, the cold muzzle of a gun shoved into his stomach. "Move!" he was ordered and yanked to one side.

" _Brackett_!" Jim howled, still caught up in a fight.

"Don't worry about your Guide, Ellison," Brackett taunted him from right behind Blair's ear. "I'll take _real_ good care of him."

 _Screw that_! Blair's emotions, which had been pounding in his head throughout the confrontation with Kincaid and Brackett while Jim was down and out, surged with a crackle of real power. But unlike when it had happened at other times before, this time Blair knew the Seventh had risen in him strong enough that he didn't need the Door for one instant of concentrated will.

Just as Brackett shoved Blair through a doorway into a room that was bright with the light streaming in from the windows, Blair snapped the zip-tie holding his wrists confined in half.

Blair took advantage of Brackett's momentary blindness in the sudden light, which, somehow, didn't trouble him in the slightest, and slammed a now-free fist into Brackett's face.

And when he saw what was in the room, he felt a cold anger burn through him like he'd rarely felt before.

"You messed up _bad_ this time," he menaced, knocking the gun from Brackett's hand as the man reeled. "When you came for _my_ Sentinels, you came for all of us."

-==OOO==-

Downstairs, the chaos was even worse.

"Everybody come with me!" Race called.

The hostages were mostly crouched on the ground while bullets flew above them. But Galina's team had caught Kincaid's people unaware, and while the lights going out made little difference in the café with its big windows overlooking the city, the death of that sound had freed the Sentinels to utilize their full senses once more. With unerring accuracy, Galina's group were spreading out through the building, shooting to disable and not kill when possible. Galina herself was expertly eliminating every man standing guard over the hostages.

Given the obvious gun-fight at the other end of the room, the crowd unsurprisingly took the avenue of escape and rose in a stampede.

Which was where Race's team came in. Some of their number were securing the exit out the back maintenance stairwell, but the rest moved into the crowd, their DHS-emblazoned bullet-proof vests identifying them as the good guys. With Sentinel skill, they kept order in the panicked rush of adults and children, rescuing any who fell before they could be trampled, helping those who seemed frozen rather than inclined to flee, grabbing the most frenzied and keeping them from doing harm to themselves or others.

Race himself found a little boy who couldn't be more than five in his arms, his distraught mother clinging to his elbow.

"Are you a Jedi?" the boy asked brightly.

"You could say that, kiddo," Race smiled a little.

Together, Race and his group began leading the people to safety, where they would be met by Joel and the others outside.

Unfortunately, Galina's people hadn't made it all the way through the building yet, so there were still forces loyal to Kincaid keeping a lookout. At the first sight of people streaming from an unnoticed door across the lawn, they opened fire.

"Get down!" Joel cried, storming out of his concealment to pluck a few kids out of the line of fire. Beside him, Hasna and Antonio shot back, providing cover for more of the hostages. Sentinels raced forward, pulling children into their arms or wrapping themselves around adults to provide the shelter of their armor and their bodies from the terrorists.

Meanwhile, Simon ordered his own men to return fire, keeping the official police from intercepting the rescuers and hostages by a stringent order. But the DHS emblem convinced the others on the scene that Banks knew what he was doing and had clearly – and secretly – called in the cavalry, and while it galled them that the Feds had to pull them out of this mess, they were grateful for the sudden swarm of agents taking on the duty of shielding the civilians from errant gunfire.

Up in the nearby parking garage, Angie reported all of it to Doctor Quest, relieved that the burning sound she'd sensed had cut off at last.

"What did they do?" Melly asked, still rubbing her Sentinel's back as she had from the first bite of that awful noise.

"Daryl and the girl named Cat led Jessie and Kaimi to the electrical room under the planetarium," he explained as he scrolled through the messages hastily sent to him. "They shut down the building's auxiliary generator power, since we'd cut off the main power from outside already. And I think Jessie also fried all the security systems with some kind of manual overload."

"Why did that stop the noise?" Angie wanted to know.

"It wasn't battery-operated."

"How did they know it would work?"

"I didn't get the chance to really ask them," he admitted, "but when I pointed out that the device making that sound may have had a backup power source and wouldn't be impacted by the power-outage, they said it wasn't." He shrugged. "I guess they saw it? Or maybe just took an estimated risk?"

"No," Melly shook her head. "They _Knew_."

-==OOO==-

Jonny blinked crud from his eyes, feeling oddly stiff. "Hadj?"

"Wake, Sentinel. You are needed."

Those words bypassed most of Jonny's brain and went straight to his priorities. With a deep breath, he surged upwards, only narrowly avoiding banging his head on the low stairs just above him. His senses lashed out almost angrily as though frustrated at being contained so long to determine that there was no immediate danger to his Guide nearby.

Beside him, Ngama was waking also, his own face focused as he checked for threats as well.

"We must get moving," Hadji told them both, preternaturally calm. "I believe our friends are in need of our assistance."

Jonny looked to Ngama. "Stand watch. I'll check in with Jim."

Then he cast out his hearing, having to sift through the many people moving about throughout the building, and a large number of them Sentinels, until he found the familiar sound of Jim grunting while he fought.

"Jim's dealing with some goons, and it sounds like Blair's fighting that guy Brackett from what he's saying."

"They will have their hands full with that one," Hadji said. "What of Kincaid, the man behind the army?"

"There's too many people moving around," Jonny shook his head. "I don't know his voice to find him."

"It does not matter. As it happens, I will find him." Hadji drew back and began to crawl out from under the steps, not bothering to look for danger as he knew Ngama would warn him of it before it were anywhere close.

"How?" Ngama asked, following Jonny and Hadji.

"While I guarded you both, I found it was easiest to monitor the situation from the astral. It is there I saw him, and I can guess where he has likely planned to retreat."

"Hang on!" Jonny grabbed his brother by the elbow. "You say 'the astral' but you really mean the Door, don't you? You went in there without me to anchor you!"

"This is not the time," Hadji said firmly, dark eyes winking angrily. "And when you know all, you will agree with me. A blow has been struck against our tribe, Sentinel. We must apprehend Kincaid, for Brackett belongs to Jim and Blair."

Jonny growled low in his chest but fell into step behind Hadji as his brother set a brutal sprinting pace up the stairs and in the direction he knew Kincaid would go. "This is _so_ not over, Hadj!"

Ngama wisely said nothing, but monitored their surroundings as they rushed through the building which Hadji now seemed to know as well as the Chancery. And, if he had been deep enough into the Seventh to witness events, that was highly probable. The place beyond the Seventh Door would have shown Hadji everything he wished to view, even that which was beyond sight. Ngama spared a moment's thought of gratitude that his own Kaimi, wonderful and talented and dedicated, had not done something so foolish. Probably. He hoped.

-==OOO==-

"So…how'd you know that cutting the power would shut off whatever was making the noise that bothered Jim?" Cat asked. The four had decided to hold their position until someone from one of the strike teams came to escort them to safety. "And how do you know it worked?"

Kaimi coughed lightly. "I, uh, didn't? Hadji did."

"Did he see it?"

Kaimi shook her head.

"And he hasn't been texting, either, or if he has, none of you mentioned it," Cat looked around sharply.

Jessie and Daryl exchanged slightly guilty looks.

"So…we've got one guy who can hear the unhearable, and you, who can talk to somebody else all the way across the building, but not be hearing it like Jim did or that noise would have bothered you, too?" Cat frowned.

Kaimi shrugged. She didn't really want to say that Hadji's tawny eagle had appeared and flown _through_ her, passing to her a bit of knowledge from his trip into the Seventh.

Cat let out an aggrieved sigh and reached into her pocket for the small notebook she always kept there.

"What are you doing?" Daryl asked.

"Making a list," she said firmly, not looking up. "So I don't forget to ask any of my questions when you explain things later."

"Oh, great," Jessie sighed. "Think we can nominate somebody else for that task?"

"I don't care who as long as they give me answers," Cat glanced at them briefly before returning to the list that was already numbering in the teens.

"I vote for Eric and Lai on account of missing out!" Daryl decided.

Jessie and Kaimi giggled, but they didn't disagree.

-==OOO==-

As more of the hostages were cleared out of the building, Race turned to Meilin, who had been his go-to Sentinel. "Where are the kids?"

She tipped her head in the classic Sentinel listening posture and he put a hand on her shoulder to help her keep from zoning. It took her a long moment before she reported, "Jessie, Daryl, Kaimi, and someone I don't know are still beneath the planetarium, and Maxim is almost to them."

Race nodded. Maxim was good – a little on the older side compared with many of the Sentinels, but solid in a crisis and a devastatingly good shot. He'd get them out okay.

"Jonny, Hadji, and Ngama are chasing after the man they call Kincaid," Meilin said. "Hadji appears to be tracking him."

"Good enough for me," Race said. "Where are they heading and how do I get there?"

-==OOO==-

Of all the things Garrett Kincaid was expecting as he and his two most trusted men raced for their emergency escape, what he found had not made any versions of the final escape plan. He had rarely allowed an operation to spiral beyond his control – in both previous interactions with the Cascade PD and Detective Ellison, he had made his move and escaped largely as planned. It had only been after clearing out that Ellison had gotten the better of him. This time, he hadn't even gotten that far.

He had been promised that Brackett was prepared to handle a Sentinel incursion, probably in force. That Brackett could buy time for he and his men to negotiate transportation or acquire their own. And, of course, he'd been promised that, if all did not go as planned – as apparently happened a great deal when the man called Doctor Quest was involved – his backer would extricate him. Not all of his men, of course. Most of them were psychotic riffraff who had proved at least marginally in line with Kincaid's goals and therefore were easy enough to recruit and control. He missed the overall competence of his Sunrise Patriots.

No, the promised extraction was only for himself and his most loyal – assuming they accomplished their most important and lucrative task.

So when Kincaid skidded around a corner with Southern, a man who was loyal to a fault and committed to him for life, and Byron, who had been the main contact to get the rest of these religious zealots to join up, he was prepared for Jim Ellison. He was prepared for Simon Banks and a group of police officers. He was prepared for the government. He was prepared for a horde of berserk Sentinels, not that he necessarily believed Brackett about that.

He was not prepared for three young men, and only one of them white.

"You boys should have run on home when the running was good," he warned them as he drew to a halt. "Stand back or we'll shoot." Accordingly, Southern took aim at the white boy with his semi-automatic.

"I am afraid we cannot let you pass," said the one Kincaid belatedly recognized from the briefing photos he'd been provided – these were Jonny Quest and Hadji Singh, as well as one unknown ally. Singh's voice left no room for doubt that he, at least, would not be intimidated by their weaponry.

But Kincaid would get a significant payoff if he brought either Quest or Singh in, so he smiled like a shark. "Mister Southern. Show these boys we mean business."

Southern opened fire, aiming not at the young men but just over their heads. Still, the three ducked and dashed behind some cover, finding relative safety through a nearby doorway.

"Make you a deal," Kincaid said slowly. "Quest and Singh, you come out here and surrender. And I won't order my men to fire through the wall and kill you all where you cower."

"Your deal sucks!" Jonny shouted back, popping his head up long enough to openly grimace at him.

"One last chance. Southern, demonstrate that I'm serious."

Southern began to fire again, his bullets cutting through the thin walls easily.

When he heard a cry of "Stop! Stop!" he gestured for Southern to cease and waited. An instant later, Jonny Quest peeked out again.

"All right. Just take it easy, okay?"

"Both of you! Come out now, hands where I can see them!"

Quest moved first, Singh a step behind. The moved to stand shoulder-to-shoulder across from Kincaid and his men.

"I admire your courage," he told them. "Byron, secure our prisoners. Southern, get ready to move out."

Byron stepped forward with zip-ties in hand. When he reached the boys, they reacted with speed.

Before Kincaid really knew what he was watching, Singh had Byron in a sleeper hold and Quest had charged Southern, fighting for the gun. Kincaid drew his sidearm only to find the third boy barreling into him from behind. Kincaid swore loudly and started to wrestle for the weapon in his hand, while only peripherally aware that Byron was down and Singh was moving to support Quest.

Kincaid wrenched his gun away from the unknown kid who had interfered with him and kicked him to the side. He lowered the weapon to shoot.

"No!"

And then Singh was there, between him and his target. With a mental shrug, Kincaid pulled the trigger anyway.


	5. Chapter 5

Warning: There is the death of a named character in this chapter. Now, we all know from TS that Incacha's death didn't stop him from being present when he was needed, so I'm not ruling out a return at least in spirit from this character. But I am quite serious. The team is about to lose someone, and that won't be the last of it.

I will also tell you – writing this chapter more than a year ago made me cry. It took me days to gather the emotional fortitude to follow through with it. But I knew what I was doing then and I know what I'm doing now. Hang in there. It'll be all right.

Enjoy! (And please don't strangle me)

* * *

Jim finally got the last of Kincaid's goons unconscious and out of his way and virtually _flew_ through the door to where Blair had been last. As he crossed the threshold, he stopped, horror slamming into his gut.

"Dmitri!" He dashed to the side of the man. Dmitri and three other Sentinels were crudely bound to chairs and they smelled of heavy drugs. Jim didn't have time to examine them thoroughly, but he spared a few moments to assure himself that all four Sentinels were still alive – though their heartbeats were too far apart and their breathing was too shallow. And…there was something else wrong with them.

But then Jim caught the sound of his Guide's own heavy breathing and he had to move on. He picked up a handgun from the ground, recognizing it as Brackett's. But before he left the room, he fumbled in Dmitri's pocket for his phone.

 _Good thing Benton drilled this into my head_ , he thought as his fingers flashed across the phone's smooth keypad. It was the work of only a few seconds to override Dmitri's code with his own, unlocking the phone and initiating the emergency beacon. The phone would signal every other in the network that Dmitri was here and in trouble, allowing the others to hone in on him in a hurry.

There was nothing else Jim could do for them without leaving his Guide in a lot more danger than he could stand, so he quit the room and followed after Blair's sounds of struggle.

"You are _not_ getting out of here clean, Brackett!" Blair shouted. There was the sound of flesh hitting flesh soundly.

"Who's your combat teacher?" Brackett answered back archly. "You're a lot tougher than you used to be, but you're still pretty weak where it counts."

Jim rounded the corner in time to see Blair, doggedly between the ex-agent and the nearest bank of elevators, try to block a vicious roundhouse kick. He caught the kick on his forearms correctly, but Jim was too far away to react before Brackett's follow-through left a stunning blow across Blair's cheek. The Guide's head snapped back and he dropped with a grunt.

"Don't move!" Jim ordered, raising the gun. "If you touch him again, I swear I will shoot!"

Brackett actually smiled at Jim. "Really? You've got much bigger problems than me and your little Guide here."

Jim's eyes widened as he remembered the bombs – chemical and explosive – from his last encounter with Brackett. He focused his senses, trying to listen or smell for anything out of the ordinary.

Unfortunately, that pause was precisely what Brackett had been waiting for. When the Sentinel's gaze went a touch vacant as he focused his other senses, Brackett shoved Blair's semi-conscious body against the wall where there was a floor-to-ceiling bank of windows. Before Jim had shaken himself back to the present, Brackett had shot out one of the panes of glass. Blair, disoriented and groaning, flopped and one foot went over the ledge.

"Sandburg! Don't move!" Jim bellowed, his heart twisting at how easily he had been distracted.

Standing over him, Brackett hooked a foot under the Guide's body. "Shoot now and we both go over, Ellison."

Jim raged at the threat to his Guide, wanting nothing more than to rip the man apart, but he forced himself to tuck the gun away and hold up his hands. "You'll never get out of here," he told Brackett.

"Not if you follow me, I won't. But you'll be busy."

Brackett kicked and Blair's body slid out the shattered window.

"Blair!" Jim dove for his partner, not caring that Brackett was using the opportunity to run for the emergency stairwell beside the elevators.

Jim's hand closed on Blair's jacket at the last moment and he remembered – horribly and _unhelpfully_ – the little girl high on Golden over the dam. And like her, Blair wasn't quite awake either as he dangled too many stories above the hard concrete sidewalk.

"Stop moving, Sandburg!" Jim shouted, trying to tighten his grip without letting go of where he'd wrapped his left hand around a nearby radiator to keep him from following his Guide out the window. But he was lying flat on the floor and had almost no leverage against the weight of his partner.

"J…Jim…?" Blair slurred as his eyes blinked open. "Whe…whereza floor?"

"Please, Chief! Don't move!"

Jim felt exhaustion climbing up his arms, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered if he couldn't get Blair up and back inside before the jacket gave way.

"I need you to trust me here, Blair. Just don't move. I'm right here. I won't let you fall," Jim said, trying to wedge a foot under the radiator as an anchor so he could use both hands.

"I…know," Blair sighed. "You're….m' Sen'n'l." Then his body went lax.

Jim couldn't waste any time. The jacket was tearing – he could hear it. And with Blair relaxed, he'd flop his arms up and be gone as soon as the last tension drained out of him. So Jim yanked upwards with one arm while he let go with his other hand. Just as Blair's body started to slide out of the jacket, Jim got his free arm around his chest. He pulled back with his legs and dragged his Guide partway to safety, though his legs still dangled in space.

Jim shifted his position once Blair's center of gravity was back inside, able to gather his Guide into his arms properly. He ran his senses over him feverishly, touching the rapidly-swelling wound on his face.

"Blair? Can you hear me, Chief?"

He pushed one eyelid up to assess the pupil. _Definitely a concussion_ , he thought grimly. Blair was also littered with other abrasions and cuts, some from the fight with Brackett, some from the too-tight zip-tie, and some from being dragged over broken shards of glass.

All things considered, it could have been worse.

"Hang in there, Sandburg. I'll get you out of here and we'll have someone look at your head."

But as Jim rose, bracing his partner as carefully as he could in his arms and trying not to jostle his head too much, two sounds reached him.

The first was the light putt-putt-putt noise he usually associated with helicopters, and he realized Brackett had a ride coming for him on the roof.

Before he could get himself to care about that, the second sound hit him in the soul.

"Hadji! _No_!"

-==OOO==-

Race knew something was really wrong when Meilin at his side froze mid-step and had to launch herself back into action before falling on her face as they scrambled up the stairs.

"What is it?" he demanded.

"The Guide has fallen," she said, and when she turned to him, her dark eyes blazed with a smoldering fury.

"The Guide? What Guide?"

"Docent Guide Hadji."

Race felt a roar of his own rip through him and he doubled his pace up the stairs, Meilin matching him for speed. He knew without needing to be told that every able Sentinel not currently engaged in a fight would be doing the same thing.

"Who did it?" he asked as they hit a landing and spun up the next flight of stairs.

"One who should die."

"You got that right."

-==OOO==-

"I'm so sorry, Doctor Quest," Angie said. "I think Kincaid shot Hadji."

Benton stumbled and almost fell into Howard Fritz's arms. "Hadji?"

"Focus!" Melly snapped at her Sentinel. "What do you hear?"

Angie closed her eyes and gripped her own Guide like a lifeline, hard enough to bruise. "I hear…ragged breathing. Blood dripping." Her eyes flew open. "He's still alive! But Kincaid is still there, too."

"Jonny and Ngama are there," Melly said quickly. "They'll keep him safe."

"And if they don't," Angie growled, "everybody who can get there fast enough will make Kincaid pay for it." She grinned wolfishly. "I hope they make him _hurt_. Jim lost Brackett, and he hurt Blair too, so there's some serious punishment due to these guys."

"We…we don't encourage vengeance," Doctor Quest fought to get his bearings.

But Angie turned to him and Benton could see the primal Sentinel, the ancient warrior and defender of the tribe, looking through her eyes. "Oh yes we do. When someone hurts a Guide?"

She looked back towards the museum. " _Oh yes we do_."

-==OOO==-

Kincaid held Jonny at gunpoint, scowling at where Southern was basically crawling on the ground; apparently the kid had seriously messed up his knee.

"Back off or you'll be lying right beside him," Kincaid threatened.

Jonny fought not to howl the rage that was churning in his stomach. The only reason he hadn't yet ripped Kincaid apart for shooting his Guide was that Hadji was still alive at the moment. Ngama was doing his best to staunch the flow of blood from Hadji's chest with his bare hands, but the alarming amount was not slowing down.

"Now, it turns out I get a reward if I bring you in, Quest," Kincaid said, calm as could be while Hadji's life dripped out onto the floor. "So here's what we're gonna do. You're gonna come with me. And if you apologize to Mister Southern for your rudeness, I won't put another bullet in your buddy down there."

Another sound caught Jonny's ears and he fought to keep his face neutral.

"You gotta let me see if he's going to be okay," he managed tightly. "I'll do anything you want, but you gotta let me check on him first."

"Make it fast," Kincaid said.

Jonny moved across the floor much more slowly than he wished – if it were up to him, he'd have broken the sound barrier to get to his Guide's side. But he had to buy time, so he forced himself to walk as though stunned and afraid. Which was also true.

He dropped to one knee beside Hadji's body.

"It's not good," Ngama said, Sentinel-soft. "The shot nicked the axillary artery. He'll bleed to death and we don't have a lot of time."

Jonny spared an instant to look at his fellow Sentinel and saw a rawness of pain and guilt in him. He also saw the burn of a bullet's path that had skittered along Ngama's arm. If not for Hadji, that shot would have ended much closer to his heart.

As much as Jonny would give _anything_ to have Hadji not bleeding to death, he wouldn't wish that Ngama was in his place. Hadji wouldn't like it.

Jonny tore off his own shirt, bunching it up into a tight pad and pushing it against the wound that continued to spill blood. Ngama placed his own bloody hands over Jonny's and both Sentinels bore down with their weight.

"Please," Jonny whispered. "Please, Hadji. My brother. Please just hold on."

"Okay. Time's up!" Kincaid yelled.

Jonny looked up and met Ngama's eyes. He didn't need words – his fellow Sentinel understood.

Before Jonny could even move, a door crashed open. "Down!"

Jonny and Ngama ducked low, shielding Hadji's body with their own as bullets began to fly from _everywhere_.

"Please, Hadji. Don't give up. You can't die on me. You can't…" Jonny whispered urgently.

But he knew Hadji was dying. He could feel it in himself, an ache in his chest he remembered all too well. His breath hissed as the pain spread and grew. If Hadji succumbed to his injuries, so would Jonny; already death was clawing at them both.

 _Better that way_ , he thought as he ducked his forehead to his brother's slack cheek. _I'd rather go with him than be left behind_.

Jonny didn't really notice that the shooting had stopped until Ngama was bellowing from beside him.

"We need a med-evac chopper _now_! Hadji has to get into surgery _immediately_!"

"Fritz already ordered it!" came Race's voice. And then Race was there, beside Jonny, pulling him away from Hadji.

"No…" he said numbly.

And another voice was there. "Jonny. I need you to protect my Guide."

Jonny blinked and looked into Jim's face. "Huh?"

"I can help Hadji, but I'm trusting you to take care of Blair. Can you do that for me, Sentinel?" Jim demanded, radiating deliberate calm though Jonny could see something darker behind his eyes.

"O…okay Jim," Jonny made himself nod.

And the next thing he knew, Jonny found himself sitting on the floor, his back to the wall, with Blair's unconscious form draped over him. Another Sentinel, Jonny didn't even register who, appeared with a bag of ice obviously grabbed from an ice and water machine down one of the endless hallways. Jonny bathed Blair's cheek gently in the water from the melted ice, then set the cold pack against the contusion to try to bring the swelling down.

But he was mostly aware of the flurry of hands on and around his Guide, packing another bag of ice under the arm, keeping the pressure on, fighting to save his life. Jim and Race and Ngama were in the thick of it, and Jonny thought if it had been anyone but Race and other Sentinels, he couldn't have stood it. Couldn't have stood anyone there, couldn't have trusted them with his brother, his Guide.

And then a new sound reached him.

Jonny looked up, only then fully realizing that Galina and dozens of Sentinels had swarmed the hallway. And most of them were pinning Kincaid, Byron, and Southern to the ground. Amazingly, all three men were still alive, though bloodied. Only Kincaid seemed conscious, however.

Galina stood over them. "You threaten our territory. You attack our tribe. You _injure our Guides_."

Jonny felt the wash of rage hit him anew. If he hadn't had Blair's limp body cradled against his bare and blood-streaked chest, and Jim's trust that he would guard this Guide, he would be on his feet and taking his pain and fear out of Kincaid's skin with his own two hands.

"Sentinel Ellison is busy and his Guide and his second lie hurt," Galina said, her voice cold and harsh. "So your fate falls to my brother and I." She looked over her shoulder.

Jonny realized belatedly that she meant him by 'brother.'

"You want me to decide what happens to him?" Jonny found his voice felt strange, croaky.

"It is your right."

Kincaid snarled a crude insult at Galina, and the nearest Sentinel pinning him twisted his already injured arm until he gasped with it.

"I…I don't…" Jonny's chest felt cold. The heat of his fury was leaching away against his pain and fear, and he couldn't quite sustain that killing rage. He wished his father were here, or that Jim or Race or Ngama would look up from where they desperately held Hadji's life in their hands. He didn't want this decision and he didn't want it alone.

Galina's face softened slightly. "You need not execute them yourself. But you have the right to call death on them for what they have done. We will respect it."

Jonny blurted out the only thing that seemed true. "Hadji wouldn't like it." It came out as a ragged whisper.

Galina nodded and turned back to her prisoners. "The boy saves your lives. And I will accept his wishes. But you must be punished."

"What more're you gonna do to me?" Kincaid mumbled. Jonny could see he'd taken a bullet through the shoulder – not a killing shot, but painful and debilitating.

Galina smiled coldly and pulled a small knife from where she had strapped it to her leg. She leaned over him and whispered something low – Jonny didn't bother to listen in. Kincaid started bucking wildly and yelling incoherently in obvious terror.

But suddenly there was the sound of a phone ringing. Galina paused for a long moment before straightening up and pulling out her phone reluctantly. From her expression, she did not expect whoever had called. She answered and put it on speakerphone.

"I understand our Guides have been hurt," came the warm, serene voice of Ivanna.

"And Hadji lies dying, his Sentinel with him," Galina said.

Jonny wondered about that. He was not really holding Blair anymore – he was just slumped against a wall and feeling more and more remote, more and more cold.

"It is our way to protect and to eliminate the threat," Ivanna spoke firmly. "But we must be justice, not savagery. Our enemies are defeated. Any harm you do to them now, you do to all our souls."

There was a pause and then Ivanna said, devastatingly, "Should Docent Guide Hadji die, would you have his sacrifice honored by inflicting suffering?"

Galina's hand visibly shook as she fought not to throw the phone. Every Sentinel gathered around shared her feelings. She hated, _hated_ letting these monsters go unpunished – and life in a jail cell did _not_ count. But she could not go against the wishes of a Guide, let alone what she and they knew well would be Hadji's own plea were he awake to make it.

Finally Galina shoved the phone back into her pocket. She menaced Kincaid.

"What you would have destroyed has saved you. But I give you my word as a Sentinel. Should you ever, _ever_ harm another Sentinel or Guide, we will hunt you and we will kill you _after we take our revenge_."

"Jonny?"

He tilted his head to see Race, his red shirt and bullet-proof vest splattered with a darker red. If he weren't so close to lostness, he might have zoned on the scent of his Guide's own precious blood.

"Hang in there, kiddo. The chopper's landing now and we're going to get Hadji out of here. You have to hang with us a little more."

"I'll go with them," Jim was saying, forming the head of the stretcher comprised of many Sentinels holding Hadji gently across their arms. "I'll stay with them."

Galina appeared and touched Jonny's cheek once softly before she bent and supported Blair while Meilin and a few others added their arms to bear him up as well.

"You've gotta walk out of here with me if you can, Jonny," Race said tightly.

Jonny blinked. Race was crying?

"Jim will protect your Guide. There isn't room in the chopper for you if Jim goes to look after Hadji and Blair. You have to let me get you out of here." He bent and slid an arm across Jonny's back. Suddenly Ngama was there at Jonny's other side. Between them, they lifted Jonny and kept him mostly upright.

"Power's been restored so you can take the elevator," one of the Sentinels reported. "And the other terrorists are dead or in custody. The rest of the tribe is coming in now to help."

Jonny's eyes were only for what he could see of the crowd racing down the hall to the emergency stairs that led to the roof, Hadji lying motionless in their arms. When he lost the sound of Hadji's heartbeat against the pounding rotors of the chopper, Jonny let himself slide away into the welcome darkness.

-==OOO==-

Jim sat himself in the co-pilot's seat, most of his attention on the pair of medics working on Hadji. He'd strapped in his Guide himself, so he knew Blair was as safe as he could be for now.

But he had enough awareness cast out to hear the exclamation of worry when Jonny either fainted or went into a zone-out. He wasn't sure it mattered which.

 _Either way_ , Jim thought grimly, _he's better off. It will be easier for him if we lose Hadji if he never wakes up to feel it happen_.

-==OOO==-

"Oh!" Cat cried. "The fossils!"

"What about them?"

"We forgot! Detective Ellison said they were sending someone to destroy them, right before the noise generator went off. And we never went back for them!"

"Don't worry about it," Jessie told her. "It's handled."

Cat's face was a picture of confusion.

"Just because one's body is still does not mean one's mind cannot race ahead," Maxim spoke from where he led the four through the now-lit hallways. He had rushed off at the general Sentinel panic over the injured Guides, but when it was clear that the immediate danger was passed, he had turned back to his original objective – securing the rest of his people.

"You did it?"

"In a manner of speaking."

"Let's just say that, when those guys went to the exhibit hall, the doors were _mysteriously_ locked. And, as you know, they were made of really strong material to protect the exhibit in case of fire in the rest of the building. I'm sure those idiots took a few shots at the doors, but they never got through." Daryl put an arm around Kaimi who was trembling, his hand still linked with Jessie's.

"But how?" Cat frowned. "Those doors can't be locked except with a master key."

"That," Kaimi said, trying to feel calm and failing, "is a way longer story than we have time for right now. Trust me. Way longer."

"Okay, but I am adding that to my list," she warned him, crossing her arms.

"You're gonna have to wait on that list," Jessie said with sudden heat. "Because right now, telling you the truth doesn't mean nearly as much as finding out if we'll still have friends to be part of the explanation." She understood that Cat was nervous and coping the only way she knew how, but still…

And though she swore she wouldn't, Jessie started to cry.

-==OOO==-

The hospital waiting rooms were full.

Thankfully, and in large part because of the actions of members of SELF, there were only minor injuries to the hostages, though it seemed everyone was being brought in to be checked over just in case. Dmitri and his strike team were still deeply unconscious though otherwise fine, and their bloodwork had been normal enough, so they were back at SELF with the majority of the tribe's Sentinels standing guard. It had been decided that they would be better off in familiar surroundings when they woke since there was little the doctors could do for them. Additionally, other than those three and Ngama's bullet-burn, no Sentinels had been seriously hurt.

Blair was wandering between consciousness and unconsciousness as his concussed brain tried to sort itself out. Jim had refused to leave him once he was barred from Hadji's operating room, so he'd set up camp in the single room that a call from Agent Fritz had assured.

Within a few hours, most of the rest of the primary actors in the day's events appeared there, as it was better than waiting in a public lobby or hallway while they silently prayed for Hadji to survive.

Jonny had yet to awaken, so he'd been installed on a small cot rolled into the room, wrapped in a sweater retrieved from the Chancery. Beside him, Benton sat white-faced and trembling. Race, having showered and changed to rid himself of Hadji's blood, had grabbed every chair he thought the waiting room could spare and pushed Jessie into one, Daryl into another, and Kaimi and Ngama onto a small, pilfered bench, Kaimi clinging to Ngama as if he might disappear.

But when she explained the oath Hadji had sworn, to guard her Sentinel no matter the cost, they understood her distress better.

Galina and a few of the youngest and strongest Sentinels were spread out throughout the hospital, Joel and Galina guarding the room's very door. Others – Hasna and Meilin and Antonio among them – hovered in the hallway as close as they could get to Hadji's operating room. Agent Fritz had the building under guard as well.

Finally Simon arrived to join the vigil, Howard Fritz a step behind. Simon pulled Daryl into his arms.

"Are you okay, son?" he whispered.

"I'm fine. Kincaid…never even knew I was there. Hadji…" His throat closed. He gestured to where he had carefully folded Hadji's turban and left it under Jonny's head in an attempt at comfort.

Simon nodded. "Angie helped Fritz and I piece some of it together."

"Are the girls okay?" Benton lifted his head enough to ask.

Simon nodded. "I sent Brown and Rafe to take them home. They seemed all right, and Henri and Brian won't let them try to handle this alone."

"I need to hear the whole sequence of events, and even though there are better times than this moment, there may not _be_ much more time ahead of us," Fritz said quietly.

Every face in the room not consumed in its own guilt and sorrow and worry glared at him, but he regarded them evenly. Eventually Jim began the narrative, starting with the Guides zoning in the room with the fossils. Daryl and Ngama and Jessie and Kaimi added their bits as the tale went on, painting the picture of a situation of desperation and cleverness, of courage and fear and anger. And of sacrifice.

Fritz took no notes, but he nodded when they had finished. "Thank you. There will be no more questions about this for any of you from any official source. I'll handle it."

"Thanks Howitzer," Race said tiredly.

"However," Fritz warned, "this is not over."

"Brackett got away," Jim grated out, and if words could kill, Brackett would have been dead on tone alone.

Fritz nodded. "I'm not sure I can identify how he evaded us, but we do have a picture of his escape mechanism."

He held out a photo, the page on which it had been printed still warm from how fresh it was. The image was a little blurry, but it showed a strange-looking thing, like a black helicopter only big enough for one person, with a spherical body and no runners at all.

Benton gave a low, half-sobbing cough and turned away. It was Race who rose to shakily take the image and stare at it with untold anger and weariness.

"That's one of Doctor Zin's robots," he said. "They don't normally fly, but apparently Zin made some modifications."

"That is what I feared," Fritz said. "And I believe, if we investigate further, we will find that forces loyal to Zin were behind the prison-break at Leavenworth as well. We have Kincaid in custody, and he will never see the light of day again, but Brackett is probably on his way back to his new master right now."

There was a tap on the door.

"The doctor wants to see Benton," came Joel's voice.

Jim and Ngama both listened, nodding almost simultaneously to Simon who had settled closest to the door as guard, and he opened it.

If the doctor was fazed by the sheer crowd of people piled in the room, she didn't show it.

"How is my son?" Benton asked, rising and facing her.

"It was a near thing," she answered soberly, "but he's going to be all right. The path of the bullet actually did very little damage. The danger was that a significant artery was torn slightly, resulting in a large amount of blood loss. But we've repaired the artery and started blood transfusions."

She looked around the room a little wryly. "There was a sudden influx of people who donated blood within the last hour, including several pints we used immediately as Hadji's blood type is somewhat rare. Friends of yours?"

Jim nodded. "It was Joel's idea." He traded a look with Ngama and Kaimi. _It'll make all the Sentinels feel better knowing it's some of their blood flowing through Hadji's body to keep him alive. It'll heal them as much as it will Hadji._

"Anyway, the bleeding has been stopped and he will heal surprisingly quickly as long as he is spared much exertion for a while. It will be of critical importance that he not tear those stitches or he would again be in danger."

"When can we see him?" Benton wanted to know.

The doctor glanced around and Agent Fritz held up his badge. "I'd like the boy brought here if possible where I can maintain protective custody over him as well."

She nodded. "Very well. He's in recovery now, but he'll be down within the hour."

She smiled slightly at the odd group so fiercely protective of one another and left.

"You hear that, Jonny?" Benton said to his son, returning to his side and carding a hand through his sweat-dampened blond hair. "Hadji's going to be okay. I wish you would wake up now."

"No, let him sleep," Jim told him.

The others looked at where he had Blair's hand firmly in his own and appeared as though he would put down roots before he'd voluntarily move.

"He'll wake up when Hadji's here and he can sense that he's okay for himself," Jim explained. "Until then, he's earned a rest."

He looked around the room at where Daryl and Jessie were slumped against one another in relief, Race was trying to pretend he wasn't secretly crying, Benton was bent low over his son, and Ngama and Kaimi were nodding exhaustedly against one another. He caught Simon's eye.

"You all have. Sleep if you can. The watch is mine." Jim sat back where he could see the whole room clearly without ever releasing his Guide.

"And mine," Race said, admirably steadily for still fighting tears.

"And mine," Simon added.

"And," Fritz said, dropping into the only chair left and sliding it into the corner where he could sit with his back against the door, "if you will have me, mine as well."

Jim nodded. "Welcome to the tribe, Fritz."

-==OOO==-

"Ice to Doctor Zin."

"Zin here. Were you successful?"

"Yes, sir, at least in my primary objective. Though Fire and all his men were killed or taken prisoner."

"I don't care about that. They always were disposable."

"Of course. You were absolutely correct in most of the particulars, including the unpredictability of Quest and his allies."

"I know my enemy well."

"What now, sir?"

"Now we wait and prepare for the next phase. And when their backs are turned, we strike again."

-==OOO==-

Blair was muttering. It was too low for any but the Sentinels to hear, and Jim knew that few if any of his tribe would listen in with him sitting right there to monitor more closely – they did try to respect others' privacy when it suited them, anyway. Besides, their senses were turned outward, watching for danger, except for those who still listened carefully to Hadji who had not yet been brought downstairs – but would never be alone while his tribe monitored his breathing.

Jim glanced over the room. Simon, Race, and Fritz were the only other ones still awake – even Benton's iron constitution had faded and he had curled up like an oversized puppy at the foot of his son's bed.

He caught his own name in Sandburg's confused ramblings.

"Jim...gotta save…yoursssself. Dmitri…Hadji…wake up…Kaimi…need Guide…killll…danger…Jim…please Jim…"

"Shhh," Jim leaned over his Guide. "You're okay, Chief. Everybody's safe. Just take it easy while your brain works on unscrambling itself."

"No…don' un'er'stan…Save…"

Jim wondered if he should wake Kaimi. Maybe Blair really did need a Guide to do their thing and _Know_ more than he could perceive from where he sat. But he looked at her, slumped against the wall and supported by Ngama, pale and drawn and tense even in sleep. And of the three of them, she was the least comfortable with all that Seventh stuff. If Hadji hadn't been hurt, he'd have asked him without hesitation because to Hadji it was second-nature, effortless. But he couldn't bring himself to trouble the young, fragile-looking Guide on even less than a hunch.

"Go ahead and rest, Blair. I'm here."

Sandburg slid back into proper sleep.

-==OOO==-

Back at SELF, those Sentinels not on duty at the hospital had tripled the guard on the perimeter – not because they necessarily feared an attack, but because it was the only way they could feel safe. Similarly, though they felt certain Dmitri and his three comrades would be more comfortable in their own beds, they ended up dragging four cots into the greatroom and put them there instead.

Because anyone who wasn't on the walls wanted to be able to watch over the Sentinels who had been hurt, and the drive was so much stronger when none knew what had been done to them or why.

Upstairs in their suite, Brian and Henri sat with Angie and Melly on the couch. The two men had squished their girls between them, any usual reticence washed away in the aftermath of the crisis. Angie still had her arms around Melly, but she was also leaning back gratefully against her brother, rubbing her cheek against his hand where he raised it to stroke her hair comfortingly. Melly had her head tucked in Henri's bicep, clinging with her hands to her Sentinel but nudging against her adopted brother blindly. In Angie's lap, Bandit was curled. In fact, even when he had Jonny nearby, he often chose Angie for sleeping on instead. Brian privately thought it might be because Angie was comforted by Bandit and the dog could perceive the help he gave her.

"What do you girls need?" Brian asked softly.

Angie shook her head slightly. "Dunno. It all feels really wrong."

"Wrong how?" he encouraged.

Melly answered. "My heart's jumping around, and then I think about Hadji and I want to cry. And I'm mad that it makes me want to cry because that's stupid."

"It's not stupid to cry," Henri told her gently. "Even we cried when we thought we'd lost Sandburg a few years ago."

"Crying is just your heart's way of telling you that you feel something," Brian added.

"And hey," Angie squeezed her Guide's hands. "Jessie was crying, too, so it can't be that bad."

Melly let out a long breath. She liked Jessie particularly well. "Okay." And a few tears trickled loose.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Henri asked both girls.

"What's to talk about?" Angie asked with an edge of anger. " _We_ weren't the ones getting shot. _We_ weren't the ones running around fighting or protecting people. _We_ were just back with Doctor Quest."

"You also heard all of it," Brian told his sister gently. "More than anybody else, you were listening. And from what Benton told me, you probably heard more than all the other Sentinels in the area because you had Melly with you. You heard a lot of things…things you shouldn't have to hear."

"And what you feel is unique to you," Henri said. "Somebody else might not feel about what happened the way you do. And that's okay. To feel what you feel."

"You're getting smart," Melly told him, rubbing her nose on his arm.

"Got you to teach me, Squirt," he shifted and put an arm around her so she was in the cradle of both her brother and her Sentinel.

"So," Brian said, "does it help just to sit like this for a while? To sit together and know you're safe?"

"Yeah," Angie nodded. "That helps. And…maybe not to go out until _this_ feels more real than what happened."

"Not feeling up to interacting with people?" her brother asked with a knowing warmth.

Angie shook her head.

"That's okay," Henri put in. "As long as we're not too much for you?"

Again she shook her head.

"Then we'll just sit right here together until the rest of the world doesn't feel so big," Brian told her.

Angie sighed and closed her eyes. Melly smiled at both men before cuddling down between the two people she absolutely Knew loved her and belonged to her. Henri reached with his free arm and grabbed a nearby blanket, which he tossed one-handed across the couch, Brian catching it with ease to tuck it over the girls.

"We got lucky," he said after a long moment.

Brian looked up and their eyes met.

 _We got lucky they weren't in there. Lucky nothing worse happened to someone. Lucky there are so many Sentinels who are totally loyal and skilled who could storm the building with better success than the PD could ever pull off. Lucky Simon and Fritz made it work on our end. Lucky our girls had Benton to look out for them. Lucky to have these girls in the first place_.

He nodded to everything Henri didn't need to say. He already knew.

-==OOO==-

Ivanna was in the greatroom with Dmitri and his three comrades, bathing Dmitri's brow in cold water. She had been watching over them for more than an hour, trying to ease what little physical discomfort she could and provide the best care her Sentinels deserved. She was being particularly solicitous of Dmitri, knowing from the heat she could feel in one shoulder that his arms had been wrenched badly at some point – and the left always bothered him after a wound he had taken decades ago. She'd been minding that shoulder for years, since Ilja's death, really. So she had wrapped it carefully and set an ice pack upon it to help.

Suddenly she felt a shivering tremble of foreboding. With fear seizing her heart, she focused her eyes to perceive the spirit animals in the area.

Dmitri's spirit animal – a short and stocky wild horse like those that lived in the steppes of Mongolia – was frenzied, rearing and pawing the air, its black eye rolling. The other three spirit animals were in similar distress. And, even more worryingly, they were not as present as Ivanna expected. She had seen spirit animals fade away before, usually as a sign that their Sentinel was descending into madness or true sensory overload from which there was no return. But never this ghostly alarm that felt cold and alien to her senses.

Dmitri's horse suddenly vanished with a whinny of terror.

Ivanna opened her mouth to shout a warning to the lodge.

And Dmitri, eyes unseeing and blank as an empty sky, surged up to capture her in a powerful grip and viciously snapped her neck.


	6. Chapter 6

I think that was the cruelest cliffhanger I've left for a long, long time. I'm sorry about that part. And in some ways, it's only getting worse from here.

It broke my heart to kill Ivanna, but in another way she hasn't left us at all. It takes more than death to keep a Guide like her from helping the Sentinels who need her. And believe me, they will need her.

Onto the continuation.

Enjoy!

* * *

Without warning, Melly launched off the couch as if shot from a cannon. Before anyone else could react, she hit the ground hard with her knees and vomited.

"Melly! Are you okay?" Angie jumped to her side.

"Oh god," Melly coughed, choking the bile in her mouth as well as a sob that tore through her. "Ivanna."

"What is it?" Henri dropped to a knee beside her.

Melly looked up wildly. "Ivanna's dead! They killed her! You have to warn everybody!"

All three stared at her in shock for a moment. Even Bandit was staring at her where he cowered on the couch from the sudden movements.

Melly threw back her head and _screamed_. "Help! Help us! They killed Ivanna!"

Then she promptly collapsed into Angie's arms.

But the scream had galvanized Rafe and Brown, putting their cop instincts back onto high alert. Rafe, closer to the door, surged to it to lock it. Then he hit the print-reader on the safe where he and Brown always stored their sidearms and had only recently returned them after the events at the museum. The guns were cool in his hands and he started checking their clips.

Brown, meanwhile, left holding Melly to Angie while he grabbed for his phone. He dialed Simon.

"Banks," came the exhausted voice of the captain.

"Emergency at SELF. Someone's…Melly says they killed Ivanna." Brown's voice caught, but he held firm. "We need all the help we can get."

"Quest!" Simon roared. "How do Brown and Rafe use all that security stuff at SELF?"

"I'll key in an emergency override," Brown could hear Quest say very faintly on the other end of the line. He was grateful Benton didn't waste time asking questions. A moment later, he heard, "I've given them both full verbal access. Tell them they just need to address IRIS and she'll help them."

"Got it, boss," Brown said.

"I'm on my way," Simon said, and hung up.

Brown felt a little strange as he addressed the air. "IRIS? It's me, Henri Brown."

"Henri Brown identified. How may I be of help?"

"I need full visuals of the greatroom on the TV, now!"

"Working. Complete." The television lit up with the feed from the security monitors. Rafe appeared at his other side and wordlessly handed over Brown's gun as they stared at the picture from below.

At Melly's shout for help, it seemed like many of the Sentinels at the lodge had come running. What they found was Dmitri and the three members of his strike team brutally attacking anyone they saw. The fight had moved to a defensible spot near the back corner, which meant the place where their cots had been was clear. As was Ivanna's broken body lying awkwardly on the floor.

"What are they doing?" Rafe demanded. "How could they?!"

Suddenly one of the Sentinels fighting with Dmitri went down, and Dmitri rose with a gun in his hands.

"Get down!" Brown and Rafe yelled instinctively, hoping at least a few of the Sentinels were still listening for the room with the lodge's only remaining Guide.

Dmitri opened fire. Sentinels fell all around him.

"Come on!" Rafe surged to his feet. "We've got to do something!"

Brown looked at the girls, Melly wide-eyed and unmoving in Angie's arms but blinking back to awareness, Angie's gaze locked on the carnage on the television screen. "Stay here and lock the door behind us," he told them as he grabbed for the recently tossed-aside body armor and putting it back on. "No matter what happens, we need you to stay safe."

Rafe was donning his own armor, and he spared only one instant to touch his sister on the head gently before the partners turned to head into the chaos. Just before they hit the door, Rafe spoke up.

"IRIS?"

"Brian Rafe identified. How may I be of help?"

"Lock out access for the following members of SELF – Dmitri Barkov, Mikel Ibarra, Derya Aksoy, Selene Pachis. Can you do that?"

"Working."

Brown fastened his body armor and glanced at his partner. "Good thinking."

"I don't know about the others, but Dmitri's access is better than ours. I don't know if it'll work, but it can't hurt to try, right?"

"Access lockout has been remotely confirmed by Doctor Quest," IRIS responded. "Quest system now secure."

"Does that include the electronic locks here in the lodge?" Brown wanted to know.

"Affirmative."

"Okay. So they can't get IRIS's help anymore and they can't override the system. Now what?" Brown looked at his partner.

Rafe's face was grim. "Now we have to bring them down before anyone else gets hurt."

-==OOO==-

When the majority of the Sentinels of SELF had rushed to the Cascade Science Museum, Eric and Lai had volunteered to take up a station on the lodge's perimeter. They couldn't go charging in after their friends – neither the police nor the Sentinels would have allowed it – but they could fill a gap on the line and offer their own normal senses. When most of the Sentinels had returned with tales of injuries to Blair and Hadji and a pair of enemies who had exploited their weaknesses, Eric and Lai had withdrawn from the perimeter to leave it to the territorial and protective Sentinels. But they had not been idle.

With grim and worried practicality, Eric and Lai had taken over the lodge kitchen to start cooking. They didn't know when any of the Sentinels would feel less panicked about the safety of their people, and with the tripled guard on the perimeter there were very few others left who would be comfortable providing for the physical needs of the tribe. So they had started several large pots of stew and were thawing pre-made half-cooked bread that could be finished with little preparation.

When the gunshots sounded, both froze at first.

Then Lai shook herself from her paralysis and grabbed for Eric. The pair of them tumbled to the ground, though Eric kept trying to pull away to raise his head.

"Stay down!" she hissed at him.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"I don't know," Lai said, "but we need to find out."

Together, they crawled across the kitchen and eased into the dining room. It took innumerable long seconds before they could push open the door to the greatroom and peer out carefully.

Dmitri and the other three Sentinels who had been unconscious were now shooting at the other members of SELF, and many were down.

Eric gathered his legs under him to go charging out there, but Lai grabbed his arm.

"Think!" she whispered sharply. "There's nothing you can do that won't get you killed!"

"Well I'm not just going to sit here!"

A burst of gunfire in their direction sent them rolling for cover to one side away from the door.

Eric had wrapped his larger bulk around Lai protectively, and she took the opportunity to grab his shoulders to get his attention. Her mind rushing, Lai cataloged everything she knew about the four men who had turned on SELF. She switched to speaking in Chopec, which none of them had ever learned. "We have to be careful."

Eric frowned but nodded. In his own halting Chopec he replied, "Protect hurt people."

Lai nodded, but added, "Remember, they're Sentinels. They can hear everything we do."

"Got idea," Eric said. Then, never looking away from Lai's eyes, he said, "Bait. Them want follow."

"You lead them away, I see who's hurt?" Lai asked, eyes wide.

But Eric shook his head. "Sentinels. Listen to you. You I both run."

Lai gulped. "I wish you were wrong," she whispered.

Eric smiled grimly at her, tugging with playful familiarity at one of her thick dreadlocks. "I protect you, brave sister." It was his favorite Chopec appellation for all the girls of the Chancery.

"I know," she whispered. "Let's go."

Eric crawled off of Lai and pushed himself up until he was crouching on the balls of his feet. They traded a look.

"You first," Eric told her.

Lai nodded. "Where are we going?"

"Outside," he answered. "Safer."

Lai nodded. She was suddenly grateful that it wasn't the downpour of yesterday at the graduation ceremony. The ground would still be soaked from the day's rain, but it was warm in spite of the overcast skies. Was the graduation only yesterday? It seemed like years ago.

Lai got to her feet and took a deep, deep breath. Then, with Eric on her heels, she crept back to the door to the greatroom, knowing perfectly well that all four Sentinels could hear her every move if they were bothering to listen. But there were still sounds of shooting and fighting going on, so she hoped that meant they were too busy to care about the non-Sentinels in their midst.

Lai didn't know how Eric was going to ensure the four Sentinels would follow them, but the look in his face told her he had an idea he felt sure would work. And he wouldn't be sure unless he was serious about the idea. So she took a deep breath and peeked out the door.

The fighting, if anything, was worse.

 _Their eyes are wrong_ , Lai thought with a pang. _Are they even the people we knew anymore_?

"Now," Eric urged her.

Lai dashed through the door, aiming to cross almost through the chaos to the back door onto the patio not far from the four Sentinels. She ran as Race had taught her, zig-zagging to avoid making herself an easy target. A few steps behind her, Eric was yelling in English.

"We'll be right there, Doctor Quest and Jim! We're heading your way now!"

 _Because those are the most likely targets for whatever's going on_ , Lai realized even as a bullet whizzed by her ear. _Eric's assuming they'll have to eliminate Doctor Quest and Jim, either because that's why they're doing this or in order to do whatever comes next_.

It worked a little too well. Dmitri and two of the others took off after them while the last Sentinel stayed put and continued to shoot at them, but they dodged out the door and immediately took off at a new angle, the bullets uncomfortably close by.

"We'll try to lose them before we get to your hiding place!" Eric yelled. Then he grabbed for Lai's hand and took off towards the woods, away from any of the buildings that might have people in them.

Running too hard to think about anything else, they fled.

-==OOO==-

"Ellison, _think_ for a minute!" Simon shouted.

Jim was up out of the chair, almost buzzing with the need to get out the door. But Simon stood like a rock before him.

"This could all just be another of Brackett's games. He wanted you and Blair and the Quests. What if this is all a smoke-screen to get you to go running back to the lodge and leave them unprotected? You could be playing right into his hands!"

"I _have_ to be there, Simon!" Jim menaced back.

At the panic, most of the Sentinels nearest the room had crowded to the door. Every single one, like Jim, was clearly angry and frightened and ready to bolt to the lodge.

"Simon's right," Joel said. "You can't let Brackett lead you around."

"Those are _my_ people," Jim snarled. "I'm not leaving them!"

"Then go," Race spoke up, moving to Simon's shoulder. "Go and take Simon with you. But leave us a good strong crew in case that really is Brackett's plan."

Simon looked at him in surprise. "You sure, Bannon?"

But it was Benton who spoke. "SELF is more important than our individual lives. And while I, too, want to be there now, I know I would take your focus from what needs doing. I am willing to take the risk that this is what Brackett wanted if it gets you there to help the tribe."

Jim took a long look at Benton, who stood still and strong between the two beds that held his sons. Hadji was still out of it from surgery, and Jonny had woken just enough to reach over and snag his Guide's hand before falling into a more natural sleep. The fact that he had slept through all the yelling was more telling than anything else of his exhaustion at their close call.

"My forces are also at your disposal," said Agent Fritz. "If you can trust me with those who remain here, you can take more of your own to the lodge."

"All right. Simon, you're with me. Galina," he turned to the woman in the doorway, "choose half of everybody who's here to come with us. You and the rest will set up here to defend everyone else staying behind."

Simon's eyes fell on Joel. "You know Brackett's tricks, too. Will you stay with them just in case?"

Joel's eyes were bright with near-tears and a bone-deep ache, but he nodded.

Jessie opened her mouth, but her dad shook his head. "Help me watch over the boys, Ponchita."

"And you keep Kaimi here," Jim pointed to Ngama. "First Blair and Hadji, now Ivanna." His voice caught. "I'm _not_ endangering any more Guides today!"

"Let's go," Simon rose and strode from the room, picking up speed when he hit the hall.

Jim looked blazingly at Blair, also still asleep, and swung his gaze to encompass Race, Howard, and Galina. "You take care of him. Of all of them."

"The watch is mine," Race said staunchly.

"Good hunting, Sentinel," Galina added.

And Jim sprinted after Simon with his heart torn in half – part in his throat and the rest back in the room behind him.

-==OOO==-

Rafe and Brown got out of their rooms in time to see Lai and Eric dodge through the doors, shouting about Benton and Jim. Three of the four armed Sentinels went after them while the last continued to shoot.

The pair traded glances. They'd been partners so long, they didn't need words or signals anymore.

Henri charged down the back staircase, not bothering to hide the sound of his approach. "Derya! What the hell's gotten into you?! Drop it now or I'll shoot!"

The stairway was open to the room, so Brown knew when the Sentinel was turning away from the few remaining standing men and women to take aim. He executed a controlled roll down the stairs, crashing into the far landing where the staircase provided some cover. He fired blindly to get Derya to stop for a minute.

"Derya!" he shouted. "I'm serious! Drop it _now_ or we will take you out and I _don't_ want to do that!"

Derya began to fire again.

"God forgive us," Henri whispered with a flash of sorrow.

He fired again, and this time when Derya paused to take cover, he got to his feet and slid down the balustrade to the next level. "Last chance!" he bellowed.

Derya popped out from behind the cover he'd made of one of the room's big support pillars.

And Brian Rafe took his shot.

Derya had been caught up in the gun battle with Brown, plus monitoring all the other Sentinels in the room – he'd lost track of Rafe, as they had both hoped he would. So he had no warning like the click of the hammer or the minute shifting of Rafe's weight.

Brian made a textbook headshot and Derya went down.

"Who's all right?" Brown shouted, doubling his speed to the ground level. "Stand up. He's gone."

Emeline appeared from a corner, and Maxim lurched to his feet in spite of a clear gash at his hip. Several other Sentinels responded verbally but did not rise.

Rafe was on his way down the stairs. Midway along, he took in a huge breath to yell. "Dmitri, Selene, and Mikel are possessed or something! They've killed Ivanna and several Sentinels. They're chasing Eric and Lai! Don't let them catch you by surprise!"

Emeline spoke shakily. "The Sentinels on the perimeter were coordinating with Luka on the front gate by shouting. They stopped when they realized the danger was coming from other Sentinels. Luka's...in command now, I guess."

"Well, we'll just have to trust that he heard me," Brian said. He knelt by the first body he came to, breathing a sigh of relief that she was alive, though zoned. "We've got a lot of people injured here, and those three are out there with Eric and Lai."

"We've got to get out there to help them," Henri agreed. He looked to Maxim and Emeline. "Can you get the injured to safety and take care of them?"

The pair nodded. "Between us and those who are merely zoned, we will look after the rest." Maxim was already expertly pinching one of the Sentinels who had zoned on the sudden gunfire after listening so carefully for Melly's cry for help. "Go. Save the others."

-==OOO==-

"We can't just sit here," Melly said, sitting up slowly.

"We have to," Angie told her. "We don't fight yet."

"That's not why," Melly shook her head. She took a deep breath and pushed to a standing position, wobbling only slightly on the prosthetic.

"What is it?" Angie faced her.

"I...I felt Ivanna..." she coughed back tears and forced her voice to work. "Her crane went through me at the very last minute, like she was looking for someone who could hear her final request. She...she passed me her sense of the spirit animals of the Sentinels who went crazy. Something's wrong with them."

"Obviously!" Angie snapped.

Melly actually pounded on her Sentinel's shoulder angrily. "It's not _them_! They can't help themselves! Something's been _done_ to them and we have to stop it!"

"What can we do?" Angie asked.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I _am_ sure we have to be there!" Melly scooped up Bandit and unceremoniously lobbed him into the girls' small bedroom, shutting the door to keep him out of trouble before grabbing her shoes and starting to step into them.

Angie stopped her and looked her Guide in the eye. "You Know something."

Melly nodded as she shifted her heel to get the slip-on sneaker in place. "I dunno what yet. But we'll find out when we get there. If you're scared, stay here. But I'm going. I _have_ to go."

She strode for the door, stopping only when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She glanced back to see Angie, face pinched, convulsively twisting her shirt in her hands, but her words were steady.

"I _am_ scared. But I'm not leaving you. Do whatever you have to, Melly. I'm here."

-==OOO==-

Eric ran, leaping like a deer over the undergrowth in the forest, Lai gamely keeping up in spite of the fact that she wasn't used to running for miles and miles at a time. But fear is a powerful motivator, and they had plenty of that.

Knowing they had absolutely no chance of losing their pursuers, they instead decided to lead them somewhere specific in the hopes that help would find its way to them. So they began circling around as they ran, making a shallow arc towards the main gate where the Sentinels on guard would be the most battle-ready.

It was slower going in the forest than it would have been in one of the cleared areas, but that was to their advantage. Eric and Lai were young and fit, and had not just spent half the day sneaking into a museum full of terrorists or being drugged or whatever else had happened to Dmitri and Selene and Mikel. Plus, those three, while keen Sentinels and ex-soldiers, were all well past their prime physically. Eric and Lai found they could keep the three Sentinels at a comfortable distance without losing them by slowing for brief periods to catch their breath.

"Who is on the gate now?" Eric asked Lai between panting breaths, switching back to English.

"Luka for sure," she answered.

"Does he know Chopec?"

Lai grinned with sudden relief. "Better than you do." She tossed her head and said with more volume and in Chopec once more, "Luka! We're bringing them to you. And they're shooting at us. Be ready!"

-==OOO==-

Kaimi felt a _tug_ she couldn't ignore, didn't dare ignore. She closed her eyes and dove after it.

"There's not much time," came Hadji's voice.

Then Kaimi found herself in the savannah. Beside her, Blair shimmered into sight.

"How'd you do this?" Kaimi asked, unable to help herself. "You're unconscious after surgery, and Blair's got a concussion."

"Do not be so literal-minded," Hadji told her. "When the body is still, the mind is free."

"Besides," Blair said, "just because my cranium is scrambled doesn't mean I am."

"So you...do you know...?" Kaimi started, but stopped, unable to finish the words.

"Yes," Hadji affirmed. "I was already here in the astral when it happened and I saw the crane fly."

"I dreamed..." Blair said with a breathy unsteadiness. "I...I didn't want it to be real..."

"It is," Kaimi told him, hanging her head.

"It is worse than this," Hadji said before sorrow could swamp them. "Others are dead, too, and many will follow soon."

"What's happening?" Kaimi asked.

Hadji shook his head. "I do not know for sure. I dare not venture through the Seventh Door with my Sentinel unable to anchor me and my body so heavily drugged. I have none of my usual means of finding my way back available to me, so it's possible I would not be able to return."

"I could go," Kaimi offered. "Ngama's here with me."

"I've got a better idea," Blair said. "Come on."

The three slid into their spirit animal forms and took off, the birds winging above the wolf who raced at the speed of thought. When they reached the Temple, he led them inside before transforming once more.

"We don't need the Door. We just need the Steps," he said.

Understanding broke over them and they moved up the stairs together. At the top, before the Seventh Door, they linked hands.

"We must understand what has happened," Hadji said, "and we must discover if there is anything we can do from here to help. Ours is to Know. Ours is to Change."

"And if we can Change this situation, we might save some lives," Blair said with a prayer.

-==OOO==-

Rafe and Brown jumped in a jeep and took off, Rafe using his phone to track Lai and Eric and their position on the grounds. As soon as he figured out which direction they were heading, he and Brown gave up trying to follow them directly, instead making for the cleared path to the gate.

"The kids okay?" was the first thing Rafe shouted as he bounded out of the jeep to the crowd of Sentinels standing on and in front of the heavy, closed doors.

"They are well, and no scent of blood but for a few scratches," Luka reported. "What has happened to our comrades?"

"We're not sure," Henri told him. "But they...they killed..."

"We know," Luka closed his eyes briefly. "As Maxim identifies the dead, he calls their names to us."

"How many?" Brian was almost afraid to ask.

"Including Derya, seventeen Sentinels. And..." But he couldn't finish by naming Ivan among the dead.

"They're close!" called one of the other Sentinels on the walls.

"Got a plan?" Brown focused on the immediate problem.

"Yes. They follow Eric and Lai almost mindlessly."

Then Luka gestured with his hands and sketched his plan so that the approaching Sentinels could not overhear it, going so far as to move inside one of the gatehouses to hide himself.

Rafe and Brown exchanged a glance and nodded. They began to climb into position.

Just as Eric and Lai burst out of the forest a few yards away, the sound of another vehicle roared through the woods.

Brian thought he might freeze from the cold that burst to life inside him. It took Brown latching onto his arm to keep him from jumping for the ladder to get back to the ground.

"Angie! Get away!" he cried.

Behind the wheel of the car, Angie was clearly ignoring the request. Instead, she angled the vehicle to actually box in the three approaching Sentinels, herding them as if they were sheep. The Sentinels, however, seemed untroubled by this; they took the opportunity of the many men and women guarding the front gate to take a few more shots.

Luka's plan had been simple – lure the crazed Sentinels into the secured place between the outer gate and the inner gate, pull Lai and Eric to safety, and they deal with the three traitors. The first part of the plan went fine. Eric and Lai ran straight into the arms of waiting Sentinels who ushered them up the emergency ladders and pulled them up behind themselves. And Dmitri, Selene, and Mikel obligingly ran through the inner gate, which was quickly slammed shut behind them.

Unfortunately, Angie gunned her engine and she and Melly skidded in just before the door was in place.

In spite of everything else, Rafe found time to growl, "I'm going to _kill_ Ellison for teaching her to drive like that!"

"I think it was Joel," Brown corrected him.

"Drop your guns or we will kill you!" Luka ordered in a voice that rang with authority and conviction.

Mikel raised his pistol, aiming for the girls who were scrambling out of the car and the Sentinels on the wall struck him down before he could take aim. Selene turned instead and aimed at Luka and he put a bullet through her forehead.

"Stop!" Melly screamed. "Please, stop it!"

Dmitri, face strangely blank and his eyes empty, began to charge her.

"Don't shoot! I'm begging you, don't shoot!" Melly cried.

And then there was the sound of a wolf's howl, an eagle's cry, an albatross's scream.

Even Brian and Henri could see them for a moment – the three spirit animals flashing into existence for just long enough to crash into where Melly stood, her arms out, her hair wild, and tears streaming down her red face. Melly reeled with the impact before she straightened slowly.

"Dmitri." Melly's voice was low and unfamiliar.

"Melly?" Angie moved towards her Guide, but froze just before touching her.

Dmitri's arm came up with the gun facing her. Another shot rang out, and blood spurted from his back.

" _I SAID STOP_!" Melly roared, and there seemed to be other voices joining hers.

Dmitri dropped to his knees, the gun wavering, but he still faced Melly.

"Dmitri. You must hear our words," Melly intoned. "You are not a monster. You are a Sentinel. You must be our Sentinel again. You must wake from what you have become. Hear us, Dmitri. Hear us, Sentinel. Follow us."

Melly moved as if sleepwalking until she stood before the bleeding Sentinel. The gun dropped from his fingers and he looked up at her from his knees, squinting like she was the sun itself.

Melly touched his face with both her hands gently. "Sentinel. Dmitri. Come back to us."

And suddenly Dmitri gasped a wracking, coughing breath. "Oh mother of God, what have I done?" he began to cry and shake. "What have I...?"

"Dmitri, it was not you. It was Brackett. We know you would never harm us, Sentinel."

"Brackett...yes..." Dmitri was clinging to Melly's hands and weeping against her stomach brokenly. "He...he...we tried to fight..."

"We know, Sentinel. We have seen your true heart. But you must rest now. You are wounded."

"I should be dead." Suddenly Dmitri stood and threw his arms out, facing the others on the walls. " _I should be dead_!" he bellowed. " _I have killed our Guide and our tribe! Strike me down now_!"

The Sentinels stared at him, immobilized by shock.

Melly moved to stand before him, her own arms out. "You are our Sentinel, Dmitri. We will protect you."

And his wounds and his exhaustion and his ordeal caught up to him. Dmitri collapsed into Melly's waiting arms. She caught him long enough to bear him to the ground. The Sentinels began to race to them, immediately starting first aid on Dmitri to slow his bleeding and stabilize him to get him back to the lodge.

Rafe and Brown climbed down the ladder faster than they'd ever moved in their lives. But when they rounded on Angie and Melly to yell at them or hug them senseless – they didn't really know which – they found that Melly had collapsed somewhat less dramatically into her Sentinel's arms as well.

-==OOO==-

Somewhere in the aftermath of everything that had happened, between the time when Jim and Simon had piled into Simon's car to race to the lodge and when they'd actually arrived, Brian Rafe used IRIS to initiate a SELF-wide conference call, linking everybody on the Council and everybody he thought might have an opinion. He, Brown, and Luka tried to explain what had happened, but there was just too much to say, too much to explain.

One decision, however, was easy.

"We need a doctor," Brown had said with urgency. "We can take care of all but the worst, but there's a lot of wounded and we keep finding more. We need a doctor here that we can trust."

"I can have Doctor Mui at the lodge in under two hours," Agent Fritz offered.

"It's a start," Simon agreed. "But I think we need somebody there full-time. At least for a while."

"Then I have a suggestion," Doctor Quest said, weary but determined to carry on.

And so, later when things had calmed, Doctor Quest and Kaimi put in a call to Kaimi's mother, Doctor Leilani Waihee. They spoke for more than an hour, the two of them tripping over each other as they tried to explain everything about Sentinels, Guides, SELF, all of it. After all, besides everything else, Leilani's daughter was a full Guide and she was going have Ngama as a son-in-law someday. Leilani, as it happened, had decided the week before to take a sabbatical for a year from her position, and agreed to head to Cascade in the few days it would take to finalize her preparations.

"But I make no promises beyond the immediate future," she warned sternly.

Kaimi whispered to Doctor Quest, "Don't worry. Mom'll stay. She just doesn't want to make a promise until she sees what we're talking about."

In the meantime, Doctor Mui was retrieved from Seattle and began working on her patients with brisk efficiency, pressing Maxim, Henri, and Emeline into service as nurses while she tried to save as many of the injured and suffering as she could.

Including Dmitri.

-==OOO==-

Blair and Hadji insisted on leaving the hospital two days later, the former proving that his brain was largely unscrambled by utterly confusing his Sentinel and the latter promising his Sentinel and his father that he would not undertake any actions that might risk him ripping the precarious, life-saving stitches.

The Sentinels allowed it – not that they could really stop their stubborn Guides without resorting to force – but silently agreed to watch them carefully.

Blair and Hadji understood their concern, but there was no debate on their part. They _had_ to return to the lodge as quickly as possible. There had, perhaps, never been such a need for the Guides as there was now. And with Melly exhausted and overwhelmed still by her sudden foray into her innate powers of the Sixth and Seventh, which she was still not ready to use, Kaimi had been attempting to hold the tribe together largely alone. She'd done well – very well – but there was just to much pain, too much guilt, too much stress that led to sensory spikes, too many who wanted to protect something so they chose her and followed her incessantly; she needed her fellow Guides.

For two days, Blair and Hadji and Kaimi, their Sentinels firmly at their sides, tried to rebuild the tribe's balance and courage. Race and Benton and Joel and Simon and Henri and Brian all swept through the denizens of the lodge, helping, talking, explaining, or simply giving someone something to do to keep them going.

But at last, they all had to stop for a time.

There had been a death in the tribe a little more than a year prior when one of the elderly Sentinels had suffered a stroke. It was then that Jim and Blair and the Quests had learned that Sentinels had developed their own rituals for death amongst their people.

And so it was on the fifth morning since the day at the museum, the sky lightly overcast and the air still, each of the bodies was laid out in state on simple wooden tables in the garden, covered with a light cloth or a full sheet if their wounds were unsightly. Even in death the Sentinels wanted to spare their fallen the indignity of chemical substances that would have harmed them in life, so only the bare minimum was done to preserve them, and only with natural compounds.

In a slow progression led by Jim and Blair, the members of the tribe moved to the side of each of their fallen one by one. Each Sentinel touched the body, confirming the death with their own senses. Some might speak a few words of benediction or prayer according to their beliefs, but some simply said goodbye by listening to silence where a heart had once beat. Because there were many Sentinels who had been lost, it took many long, weary minutes.

Even Mikel, Selene, and Derya were honored, for the Guides, while having not explained anything of substance, had confirmed Dmitri's words from the front gate. The Sentinels had been drugged and brainwashed against their will. They had fought the programming but their efforts had been futile. Dmitri had woken a few times from the careful care being administered by Doctor Mui in the medical bay, and he had explained the horror of being trapped in his body as if in a zone, and beyond helping himself. He would have sacrificed himself by any means necessary if it would have saved a single lost life, and he could not.

The few who had dared to visit with him were concerned for his state of mind, but the whole of SELF was still so shell-shocked, none knew how to help him.

But they could honor their fallen brothers and sister who had died, hearts aching that their last moments had been filled with guilt and revulsion and terror – and then finally relief that they had been brought down by their own people before harming any more.

With Dmitri down in the medical area slowly recovering, it fell to Jim to lead all the Sentinels in a final military-official salute, in which every person present, even those not remotely affiliated with any state or police force, honored the fallen soldiers with respect. Then they turned to the more poignant loss.

Ivanna, as Guide and surrogate mother to many of the Sentinels, was also laid out, surrounded by flowers, but apart from the Sentinels' bodies. When Jim ended the salute, he led the tribe to gather around Ivanna one last time. Jim stood at her head, Blair stiff and trembling at his shoulder. Jonny and Hadji leaned on one another on the other side, and the rest of the tribe formed a tight crowd, many linking hands or pressing against one another. Jim looked at the woman who had taught them all so much, who had commanded and listened and led his tribe. He felt a harsh ache begin behind his eyes. He forced himself to speak.

"Ivanna…Guide to us all…" Jim bowed his head. "We should have protected you. And yet, in the end, you protected us. Your last moment was spent trying to warn us of the danger rather than saving yourself. Maybe…" he took in a deep breath, "maybe that was the lesson you wanted us to remember most of all. Sentinels protect the tribe, and the Guides protect the Sentinels." Jim gripped Blair around the shoulder tightly.

"But we still should have protected you." And his voice failed him. He felt the air in his lungs heave like a sob and closed his eyes.

But Blair understood and took a deep breath of his own. "Thank you, my friend," he said softly. "Thank you for the lives you saved, not just with your sacrifice but with your work and your patience and your love. You have been saving Sentinels for decades. And we are the result." He coughed and tears began to flow. "The dead can never be recalled to life," Blair whispered, "but if we could, we would."

Breaking from his place at Jim's side, he touched two fingers to Ivanna's forehead. "Goodbye, Mother Crane. Be at peace and may you know joy."

The remaining Guides – Hadji, Kaimi, and Melly – all moved through the crowd until they ringed the pedestal. They each rested a hand on her body and closed their eyes.

Just as the Sentinels confirmed death with their senses, the Guides confirmed it with their own. They could feel the void where a soul had been in the body. As one, the Guides shivered with loss.

Jim broke out of his own pain enough to reach out and pull Blair back to him, and the other paired Sentinels did the same. Hadji was largely composed as Jonny caught him in a hug. Kaimi wept openly, her tiny sobs echoingly loud in the quiet air as she clung to Ngama. Melly and Angie huddled together. Jim drew Blair to his side. Blair leaned his head against Jim's shoulder and shuddered, the tears coming freely though he made almost no sound with them.

Jim looked up to where Benton stood across the circle, leaning against Race. Their eyes met. Benton, feeling tired and heartsick as he had not been since Rachel's death, saw helplessness and need in Jim. Jim's eyes very clearly said, _I don't know how to end this. I don't know what comes next_.

Benton glanced to Simon, holding Daryl tightly while his own tears ran. Daryl was mostly folded under his father's arm, but he had one hand out that was clinging to Jessie's where she almost mirrored his position in her own father's embrace. Race wept, too, but he still managed to support both his daughter and his best friend in their grief. Joel, just behind them, had wrapped his great arms around three of the younger Sentinels, who held onto him tightly. Brian was hugging his sister, and they had Melly tucked between them. Henri, beside them, had an arm each around Hasna and Emeline, the toddlers clinging to their legs. Eric and Lai stood near Jonny and Hadji, pale and stark grief lining their exhausted faces.

 _This is the hardest moment of all_ , Benton thought to himself. _Because when this moment is over, they are really and truly dead_. He knew that Jim Ellison was no stranger to death and loss – perhaps less a stranger than most, even – but it was different when you were leading a community, a _family_ , through the process. Jim knew how to handle private grief; he floundered when the others were looking to him for guidance.

And Benton realized that someone must choose to break the moment. To finish what had begun and let Ivanna and all the others go. To make the death real for them all so they could begin to heal.

So he closed his eyes and began to sing in Russian.

 _It's the last time, when I dare  
To cradle your image in my mind,  
To wake a dream by my heart, bare,  
With exultation, shy and air,  
To cue your love that's left behind.  
The years run promptly; their fire  
Changes the world, and me, and you.  
For me, you now are attired  
In dark of vaults o'er them who died,  
For you - your friend extinguished too.  
My dear friend, so sweet and distant,  
Take farewell from all my heart,  
As takes a wife in a somber instant,  
As takes a friend before a prison  
Will split those dear friends apart._

By the end, most of the Sentinels – those who knew the Pushkin poem – had joined in. The rest, predominantly the Westerners, either hummed or kept quiet, listening to the words. When it had ended, he whispered the last verse in English.

"My dear friend, so sweet and distant,  
Take farewell from all my heart,  
As takes a wife in a somber instant,  
As takes a friend before a prison  
Will split those dear friends apart."

The moment was broken. The sorrow remained, but the dead had gone.


	7. Chapter 7

Everybody still with me?

Fair warning, folks – this is probably the last relatively peaceful chapter before everything goes directly south. Take all your deep breaths now. Next week, it gets worse again.

Enjoy!

* * *

Later that evening, Jim followed his senses unerringly to his partner, finding Blair sitting lotus-style on a mat on the balcony off their rooms staring out over the darkening forest as the overcast sky settled into dusk. Jim leaned against the open door and waited, but Blair didn't turn, even though they both knew he knew his Sentinel was there.

"Hey," Jim greeted him after a while.

"Hi Jim." Blair's voice was low, almost despondent.

"You okay?"

Sandburg let out a breath before he answered. "I guess? I'm just…still getting used to the idea."

"I know," Jim said with real sympathy. "You keep expecting to hear a certain voice, or see someone sitting at the table. It's…going to be a long time before I look out at the back patio without expecting to see Ivan there holding court."

Blair nodded without turning around. "Exactly. I'm not caught up in anxiety about it, I'm not panicking. But…there's a hole in our world now and I haven't figured out how to fill it yet."

"Chief, nobody can fill it. That's kind of what makes people special. Nobody's expecting you to become Ivanna all of a sudden and do all the things she did."

"Sure they are," Blair replied with more heat. "Why do you think Hadji and Kaimi and I have been running ourselves ragged this week? There's something all the Sentinels need from us and we're still figuring out how to provide it. Somehow, Ivan being here formed some kind of stable center for everyone. And now they're trying to form a new one around us and…it's just not going so well."

Jim bit back the quick response he had ready and thought about the last two days. With a start, he realized this might be the first real conversation he'd had with his own Guide in all that time, and he was sure that was true for Ngama and Jonny, too. In spite of the fact that Blair was fresh out of the hospital with that ugly bruise still discoloring his face, which meant Jim had been hovering at his side in case signs of the concussion returned, Blair's focus had been totally outward on everyone else. Jim had steered him to meals or reminded him to sleep, but Blair had been so…needed. Every time Jim turned around, there was another of the Sentinels wanting something – a moment to talk, a bit of help working through an errant sense, a few words of reassurance, a touch. Jim, too, had been sought by many, but those questions had centered more around defending the lodge and tightening up SELF's discipline and training.

Blair interrupted his thoughts by answering them out loud. "The tribe looks to you to protect it and lead it. But it looks to me and Hadji and Kaimi to heal it and Guide it and keep it from forgetting that Sentinels are human first. Also, I think we give them something to protect."

"Yeah, I'd noticed that," Jim said dryly.

He could feel Blair's smile though his partner still hadn't looked at him. "Benton and I have been speculating that there's some kind of unconscious critical mass thing going on around here. It wasn't this bad originally with just three of you – you, Jonny, and Ngama, or even back when it was Jaga – and me and Hadji. But it seems like the more Sentinels there are, the more the whole 'protect the Guide' thing goes from an innate sort of instinct to almost a compulsion. Benton thinks it has to do with Guides increasing the ability of Sentinels to function because of something with the particles that we influence in their brains or something."

"What do you think?"

"I think…well, that could be true. And it could also be a hardwired response like we've talked about before to protect the Guide so the Guide can support the tribe. But I also think that Guides give Sentinels hope. Like, they look at you and me and see what they want for themselves – that connection that makes everything right. So they have to protect me because they need the hope that they'll have a me themselves someday."

"There's only one of you, Chief," Jim said softly. Then, "And I'm real glad I've got you."

The profound, soul-filling sense of their connection wound around them both, almost tangible in the air. Jim couldn't help but drop to one knee beside his Guide. Blair didn't turn, so Jim ran his fingers over the puffy, multi-hued bruise as gently as the touch of the breeze.

 _If I could, I'd obliterate this and anything else that hurts you_ , Jim thought. _I became the Sentinel you needed in order to protect you and everybody like you, and now I can't imagine being a Sentinel without you. The world would hurt too much if I had to perceive it all alone_.

Blair sighed and closed his eyes, not moving away from the touch. "You know? I think someday when you and I retire, Hadji will be better at all this than I am. Or maybe Kaimi. Whichever of them takes over."

"What makes you think so?"

"Hadji's light-years ahead of me and what I can do with all the Sixth and Seventh stuff, and it isn't only because he's had years of practice in the astral. It just comes easier to him. And Kaimi's already as good a grief counselor as half the people I've ever seen actually practice psychology and she doesn't even have her degree yet. Hadji's a truer Guide than I am, and Kaimi's a stronger heart for the tribe."

"So, do you think Jonny and Ngama are better Sentinels than me?" Jim asked.

Blair shook his head. "No, just different. Ngama's more in tune with his environment than practically anybody, and Jonny's better than you at trying new things, but they're not better Sentinels. Just different."

"So," Jim concluded, "maybe you're being too hard on yourself. You might not be Hadji or Kaimi, but you're a better teacher than either of them by a long shot. And there's nobody here, _nobody_ , except okay, maybe Benton, who knows more than you do about _everything_."

That won a small smile. "Thanks, man."

"Listen," Jim pressed his advantage. "You don't have to be the same Guide that Hadji is or Kaimi is. Or that Ivanna was. You just have to be the best version of yourself. _That's_ what the tribe needs more than anything else." He paused, then admitted, "That's all I need too, Chief."

A certain tension drained out of Blair and he finally opened his eyes and turned to Jim. "I'm glad you think so."

"I'm glad I'm right."

-==OOO==-

A few days later, Leilani Waihee arrived, and she, like her daughter before her, settled into SELF as if born to it. Her brisk, confident manner, her instant comfort with the Sentinels, and her wry sense of humor won her several friends right away. But her dedication to providing specific, Sentinel-friendly care, won her even more. Benton and Doctor Mui had done their very best by their patients, but Leilani was an expert in medical anthropology as well as biochemistry and neuroscience. She and Blair got along like a house on fire and between them they completely reinvented the standard medical practices of SELF from the ground up, infusing it with more herbal cures, more traditional, natural remedies, and more faith in a Sentinel's body's ability to know best how to heal itself.

Unfortunately, even then, there were struggles. Many of the Sentinels had been grievously wounded, none more so than Dmitri himself. Dmitri was still alive, and he was able to remain conscious for longer and longer without stressing his broken body, but he had reacted badly to everything from the bullet in his back to the drugs to which he had been exposed back in the museum, and those strains were taking a toll on his body.

Even so, as soon as he was able, Dmitri called the Council to him.

"You need to understand what was done to me," he told them as they gathered around. In addition to Jim, Blair, Simon, Joel, Race, Benton, Hasna, Julia, and Galina – the current members of the council, Dmitri had asked Jonny and Hadji to attend as well, to bring in another Guide's perspective. Leilani hovered within earshot nearby, not as a member of the Council, but to watch over her patient.

"What do you remember?" Simon asked.

"That horrible sound," Dmitri grimaced. "I did not know we had been warned until later. We were tracking Hadji and Kaimi in the building and were not far from it when it sounded. Our senses were wide open."

"And Brackett found you?" Jim urged.

Dmitri nodded. "Yes. One of us screamed, and men came to take us prisoner. I remember approaching the source of the noise, and then nothing. I must have zoned. I think we all did."

Hadji reached from where he sat near Dmitri's head and put a brown hand on the Sentinel's arm as if to ground and assist him with even the memory. Dmitri flashed him a tired smile.

"When I came out of the zone, it was not because the sound was gone, I don't think. There was something on my head that was forcing new noises into my ears, and something on my face that flashed light and images brightly even with my eyes closed. And I had been drugged. I could tell because there was no sense of control over my body. I could have been dreaming for how unreal it felt."

Jim's head came up sharply. "How were your senses? Online?"

"And fully unleashed," Dmitri agreed. "The dials were all set at maximum, and I barely remembered that they were there, though I couldn't have changed them if I had wished."

Jonny looked at Jim. "It's the same, isn't it? As that lady in Zin's base from two years ago?"

Jim nodded. "She was working on how to use Sentinel sensory awareness and our perfect recall to control us. To build in a trigger we wouldn't be able to ignore."

"It seems it worked," Galina frowned darkly.

Hasna suppressed a shiver at the memory of the place. Beside her, Race patted her shoulder.

"Leilani?" Benton called. "Is it truly possible to brainwash someone using sensory input so completely they turn on their friends and allies?"

"Aside from the fact that it demonstrably is," she gestured at Dmitri, "yes. Put it this way."

Leilani pulled her penlight out of her pocket and strode up to the nearest Sentinel – Julia. Without warning, she flashed the light directly in Julia's eyes. Julia jumped and squeezed her eyes shut, even bringing her hands up to ward off the bright light while she tried to fix her dials.

"The human brain doesn't give you a choice whether or not to flinch when you see a bright light. The brain has a hard-coded response to certain stimuli built in for our own protection. And in you Sentinels, those built-in mechanisms are a lot more deeply entrenched and connected, since you have to be able to deliberately control them. The line between choice and body in your brains is very different. If Pavlov could teach a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell, why couldn't someone reverse the control in your brains? So instead of you choosing how to respond to stimuli, the stimulus forces a response from you instead. However, if that is the case, you should not have been consciously aware of your behavior. Your brain would have been firing automatically."

"I was aware," Dmitri said, "but it was like a nightmare. I could not feel my body. I could see what I was doing, but I had no control."

"Is it possible," Hadji spoke up, "that your perception was not through your own eyes, but, in fact, through the eyes of your Sixth and Seventh?"

Dmitri considered, then nodded. "It seems so, for what I saw in myself was not how I properly see like this when I am awake. I believe I was not awake, but I was aware, as you say."

"And that's why we could fix it!" Blair smacked a fist into his open hand. "Because as Guides we could assist you on a Sixth and Seventh level. Maybe we even rearranged the particles in your brain to drop the enforced programming. Or maybe we just jump-started your own Seventh so you could do it. Whatever it was, it took a true Guide to do it. More than one, really."

Leilani shrugged. "No one knows less about the mind than a neuroscientist. If you can create other miracles with this Seventh you talk about, there's no reason you couldn't find and initiate what is effectively a reset button in the brain that would put the Sentinel back in control."

"So, basically," Simon concluded, "Zin found a way by experimenting on Sentinels to brainwash them using their own abilities against them, and then taught it to Brackett who used it on you and the others when he caught you in the museum in the half-hour or so that he had you. The question is – why?"

"I do not know," Dmitri shook his head. "Anything I was told, I have forgotten. My last memory is of the confusion and chaos that must have been part of the process, and then I woke in the lodge and was watching myself…"

He trailed off and closed his eyes against a thick pain that settled into the lines of his face.

"I think that's enough," Blair said gently.

Dmitri nodded gratefully and everyone began to file towards the door except for Joel, who stopped. "May I stay?"

Dmitri didn't know if Joel was offering in order to support him through his guilt or in order to help endure his own pain at the loss, but it didn't matter. "Yes," he rasped.

The rest exchanged glances. There had been an unspoken speculation among the denizens of the lodge about Ivanna and Joel and feelings they perhaps carried secretly, but no one had ever asked and now they never would. So they left the pair to mourn in private. And while every heart beat with sympathy and pain for what Dmitri had to live with, or what Joel was now forced to reconcile inside himself, no one knew how to help either cope with it.

-==OOO==-

A day or two after the interview with Dmitri, Race found Jonny in one of the training rooms, pounding on a punching bag. From the sweat trickling down between his bare shoulder-blades and the visible dent in the bag, he'd been there a while. Race glanced around for Bandit, but the dog was nowhere to be seen; he supposed Bandit was still sequestered with Melly and Angie who had kept almost completely to themselves for the last few days.

"Hey Jonny! What's up?" he called brightly.

Jonny froze in motion long enough for Race to guess he was performing a full sensory scan before he resumed his hits, though he did slow a bit. "Just working out."

"Yeah, and I'm a one-legged armadillo."

Jonny actually paused at that, turning with an utterly confounded look on his face. " _What_?"

Race grinned. "Thought that might get your attention." He strode into the room. "Now why don't you tell me what's really going on?"

Jonny made to turn back around but Race caught his shoulder and faced him. _When did he get so tall_? Race wondered. _We're almost eye-to-eye now_.

Jonny let out a breath. "Hadji's avoiding me."

That was not what Race had expected. "How do you figure? Except for today I don't think I've seen the two of you apart since he left the hospital."

"Yeah, but he won't talk to me," Jonny returned. "Every time I try to get him to say something about the Seventh Door or what he did in the museum or even how he and the others helped Dmitri snap out of it, he deflects me. I don't think he even knows he's doing it."

"Where is he now?" Race asked. "I haven't seen him since breakfast."

"Hadji volunteered to go with Blair and Daryl and Jim to talk to that girl Cat from the museum," Jonny said, trying not to sound bitter. "And he did it right after I told him he didn't have any good reason not to talk to me today."

"That doesn't sound like Hadji to me," Race mused. "But you know who it does sound like?"

"Who?"

"Your dad."

Jonny blinked. "Really?"

"Really," Race nodded. "Think about how your dad gets with a new project. He closes himself off in his lab, barely says two words to anybody, and lives and breathes whatever he's working on."

"But dad still comes out to meals," Jonny pointed out. "He still talks about schoolwork or whatever else the rest of us are talking about around the table."

"Sure, but we both know his mind is mostly elsewhere," Race replied. "Just because your dad has enough brain cells that he can spare a few to keep up a conversation, he's still devoting most of his attention to whatever he's trying to work on. And, if you think about it, Hadji's always done it the same way."

"No he doesn't," Jonny shook his head. "Hadji meditates and spouts these sayings that Jess and I have to figure out. Even when he was doing his first big thesis for Rainier, he watched poker on TV in the middle of the night – and we never did figure out why – and did Guide stuff up here and everything."

"And yet his brain was still on his thesis," Race said. "And on some level, you know that. Heck, Blair does it, too. You've seen him when he and Jim are working a case for the PD. Blair might be present in the case and trying to solve it and all, but his thoughts never get too far away from his first priority – Guiding Jim."

"So what's Hadji so stuck on?" Jonny asked.

"Maybe that's what you need to find out."

"I've tried!" Jonny might have dropped his boxing gloves in anger except he knew that kind of display was out of line. Race had taught him very firm rules about conduct in the dojo and any other training area.

"And he hasn't answered you?"

"He's avoided the question."

"Then," Race tipped his head thoughtfully, "Maybe he isn't ready to talk about it yet." Jonny started to protest but Race held up a hand for silence. "Think about it, kiddo. Hadji never refuses to give a straight answer if you ask for one. Even when he'd rather be teasing us, he never hangs us out to dry like that. Except for what?"

The answer came to Jonny with slow certainty. "Except when he's worried – really worried about something. The way dad does. If dad's project is really dangerous or something, he doesn't talk about it until he can't help it. And…when Hadji's really, _really_ upset, that's when he closes down, too."

"So you should probably keep reminding him you're ready to listen, but stop pushing him so hard to talk," Race nodded. "Make sure he knows he can open up to you, but let him work it out on his own time. He's juggling questions I haven't even got sorted out yet about the meaning of life and the human brain and spirit and everything else. If _Hadji's_ getting worried, you better trust he has a good reason."

-==OOO==-

Ngama sat at the edge of the pool, grateful that the sun had finally chosen a day to shine, happily absorbing warmth while listening to the even, encouraging voice of his Guide in the pool teaching several Sentinels how to swim. The feel of the light sinking into his skin and the soft lap of the water and the steady stream of Kaimi's words lulled him into a state of relaxation which was blissful after the strain of the last week.

Even as comfortable and at ease as he was, however, he was keenly aware of his environment and so was not surprised when a voice spoke softly from beside him. "Hello Ngama."

Ngama opened his eyes and smiled politely. "Good afternoon, Doctor Waihee."

"May I join you?"

"Please do," he gestured to the chair at his side. "It's a wonderful day to be out."

"Kaimi emailed me about the weather here. It was difficult for her to get used to so many days without sun. I imagine it was similarly difficult for you?"

"Yes," he agreed. "Though I can feel the sun on even the darkest day if I try. I can sense its heat in the sky and sometimes I can see it through the clouds as well."

"Hmm," Leilani considered.

"But the sun is still better when it is not kept from us."

"Yes, I agree completely." But Leilani's eyes were not upwards. Instead, they rested on her daughter.

Ngama understood the meaning she had drawn from his words, not one he had intended. He quickly said, "She did not keep all this a secret from you to hurt you, Doctor Waihee. She did it to protect you and all of us."

"I know that," she said firmly. "And I support her decision even if I do not agree with it. I believe Benton ought to have called me in years ago, before anyone ever discovered my daughter was a Guide. I was the one he trusted to look at Jonny from the beginning."

"If I may ask, did he say why he never told you what truly happened?" Ngama asked politely.

Leilani nodded. "Yes, he did. At first, it was because he did not want to continue any correspondence between us when they were trying to evade whatever group had abducted Blair and Hadji and himself. He did not want to leave a trail they could possibly follow. Because the fact that they landed on Maui and went straight to the hospital would make perfect sense – it was the nearest advanced research hospital on US soil. But continuing that association might have drawn attention in my direction."

Ngama thought about that. "It does make sense."

"Of course it does," she snorted. "Benton usually does make sense. And he also usually arranges things to go his way, no matter what anyone else might think about it. More than anyone I've ever met, Benton always has his reasons for things."

"Still," Ngama said. "I am sorry we didn't tell you sooner. When Kaimi came to Cascade. Or when she and I…" He trailed off and willed himself not to fidget or stammer.

Leilani smiled very slightly. "Yes, about that."

Ngama forced himself to breathe. _I will not behave like a child discussing sex before the mother of my chosen and Guide_ , he told himself firmly. "I am sorry I did not urge her to tell you sooner."

"Kaimi has her own mind about these things," Leilani glanced back to her daughter. "But I wonder if you know why she kept me from knowing about the truth of you both for so long."

"I do not."

"Well, I do."

Ngama actually blinked at her.

"It was out of respect for you. Because of your father."

Ngama took in a deep breath through his nose as understanding swept over him. "Of course. She…would not want me to be troubled. Because she would see it as an unfairness between us, that you and she could share in this, whereas he and I…" Ngama didn't bother to finish the sentence. There was nothing good to finish it with.

"Yes, that. And on that matter, I would like to say this to you."

Ngama turned out of his own thoughts and found Leilani's dark eyes fixed on him. "Yes, Doctor?"

"Your father is an old colleague of mine with whom I have worked many times. And as such, I owe him a certain amount of respect. Therefore, I have decided to give him my opinion on the matter and then wait for six months. If, at the end of that time, he continues with his foolish and ill-conceived idea about the reality of your Sentinel nature, I will give him my _uncensored_ opinion of his closed-minded cruelty until I am spent. Benton has spoken to him on several occasions, he told me, but Benton is unlikely to give your father the tongue-lashing he deserves for his treatment of you."

Ngama's throat closed up and he simply nodded. But Leilani wasn't finished.

"I know that you and my daughter are bonded in ways that stagger the imagination. I know also that she loves you with all of her heart. This would be enough for me to accept you, Ngama. But I have also watched you with her, and I have heard stories about you for years through her emails and calls. You are honest and honorable and loyal and kind. Kaimi was always filled with light, but you have made her incandescent."

"It is I who am the more changed," he managed to tell her. "I owe her everything. I want to give her more than I could ever possess."

"And that is why," Leilani smiled warmly at him, "whether your father continues to be an ass or not, I would like you to consider yourself my son in all things. Someday you will be my son-in-law, of course. But if you wished to renounce your biological father and even your last name, I would give you mine instead in the Hawaiian tradition. If your father cannot acknowledge you as a Zimbati, Ngama, it would be the honor of my life to make you a Waihee."

Ngama fought with his breathing for a long moment before he was able to say, "If…if I can no longer claim my father, if I must surrender that, it…would be the honor of my life to accept."

Leilani rose from her chair and settled her arms around him. "Good. That's the answer I was hoping for. Kaimi tells me you have never known your mother. You're a bit old to mother, but that will not keep me from trying, no matter what happens with your father."

Ngama pressed his head against her shoulder, emotions thundering through him. "I…would like that very much, Doctor."

"Absolutely not," she drew back sharply. "I will be 'Leilani' or 'Mom' or some version thereof, but to you I will never be merely 'doctor.' To you, I am truly your family. Understood?"

Ngama was opening his mouth to say something when a sound reached him. He turned to see Kaimi, having swum to the edge of the pool, gazing at them both. It was her heartbeat, and it was steady and fast with emotion which was writ large in her eyes.

"It's called 'hanai,' Ngama," Kaimi said softly. "It's a thing that's done in Hawaiian culture. And she's serious about you being family now. And so am I."

"Then you choose," Ngama looked at his Guide. "What shall I call your mother? …Our mother?"

Kaimi considered. "I vote for straight-up 'Mom,' actually. You can give it a name if you want –'makuahine' means 'mother' in Hawaiian, or something from your own language – but when mom hanai's you, it's not going to be formal. It's going to be real." At Ngama's expression, she said more gently, "It's okay to be informal with family, Ngama. You don't have to do the Hadji thing and say 'doctor' except when it really means something. It will _always_ mean something."

"I believe I am outnumbered," Ngama smiled, and he could not be upset by that.

"He's so very observant," Leilani winked at her daughter.

"And a very good boy, too," Kaimi teased back.

But Ngama could not be troubled. "I'm glad you both think so, Kaimi. And…mother." The word came out small and vulnerable and so very honest.

Leilani held him tightly. "Thank you, my son."

-==OOO==-

Simon settled into the area he was starting to think of as the 'break room.' On the ground floor of the lodge, opposite the kitchen and dining area, was a series of offices for the lodge regulars. Benton's was the largest, a big space with multiple tables which always seemed piled high in papers. In spite of having a space at the SELF house near Rainier as well, Blair had an office of his own next to Benton, slightly smaller in size but much greater in the chaos. Then, with Simon stepping in more and more in an organizational and administrative capacity, he had slowly moved into an office that reminded him a great deal of the one he had back at the PD headquarters, complete with a glass wall that looked outwards. And across from Simon's was one with a shiny new nameplate identifying it as Joel's office. There were also a few empty ones that would, at the rate SELF was growing, need to be claimed someday.

Between them was a little den of an area, a central hallway much too wide to be merely a walkway. Race and Jim, most often waiting on their respective doctors, had dragged some chairs in to make it something of a sitting area, and the regular traffic had brought with it other things – more chairs, a table, some board games, and another coffee machine. It had also become an informal place for the Council to meet when they didn't need to ensure privacy.

As Simon sat in the chair he specifically had hauled in for himself – a heavy wooden piece whose armrests were so polished and sanded they felt smooth as silk to him – Race came around the corner.

"Any news?" Simon asked.

Race shook his head. "I've got the best eyes I can get combing through the satellite data, but there's a bad glitch that happens right at the critical moment and you can't actually tell which direction Brackett went from the rooftop. Zin messed with our surveillance good this time."

"And by the 'the best eyes I can get,' you mean Ngama and Jessie, don't you?" Simon asked knowingly.

"And Daryl and Lai," Race affirmed. "Those two are more observant than most. If there's anything to find, they'll find it."

"Where's Benton?"

"Wanted to talk to Jonny and Hadji for a bit," Race said, getting himself a cup of coffee. "I think he's worried about them."

"Does he have reason?" Simon wanted to know.

Race shrugged. "No, I don't think so. I already talked to Jonny about it earlier today. They'll be fine."

Simon nodded.

"So, when do you and Brown and Rafe and Jim go back to work?" Race asked.

"Wednesday," Simon answered. "Kincaid's stunt at the museum piled up the paperwork for all of us, except for Ellison and Sandburg who were never officially there, but the fact that the DHS ran most of the op does simplify things a bit. And Howitzer bought us a bunch of days off to 'debrief,' which was nice. But Cascade doesn't protect and serve itself."

"Simon," Race took a seat across from him and leaned forward, "I understand that you need to get back to your real job. I do. But we also need you here, all of you. Especially Jim and Blair."

"No way," Simon shook his head. "Ellison and Sandburg are my best team. With Brackett out there, I need them to hunt him down. You know that."

"Brackett wasn't officially there, either," Race pointed out. "The DHS smudged the records and has all the terrorists the Sentinels didn't kill in custody. If you weren't part of SELF, you wouldn't know he'd been here, either. The official reports will only ever mention Kincaid."

"But I do know Brackett was here, and I'm not letting him loose in my city," Simon replied sharply.

"He could be five thousand miles away by now," Race countered. "No longer your problem. But he's still our problem. He knows how to hurt Sentinels, Simon. We need you here."

"What do you want me to do? Turn in my badge? Sign onto SELF full-time and leave my career with the PD?" Simon demanded angrily.

"That's exactly what he wants you to do," came Joel's voice from the corridor. "And frankly, Simon, I agree with him."

"E tu, Joel?" Simon glared at his friend.

"There's a lot of good cops out there," Joel sat beside Simon. "A lot of good cops who can take care of Cascade. But how many of us can take care of the Sentinels?"

"SELF has the weight of the Department of Homeland Security behind it," Simon argued. "That's a hell of a lot more than just me."

"But most of the DHS doesn't know the first thing about Sentinels," Joel said. "The list of people who know about Sentinels, who know about Brackett, who know about Zin, and who know how bad those things together are is really, really short."

"I'm not trying to say I don't understand what your job means to you," Race said honestly. "I get it. I've been protecting Benton and those kids for a long time. I'll always be their bodyguard first. Just like you'll always be a cop first."

Simon frowned but waited for the man to finish his thought.

"But I think you need to look at your priorities again. Like Joel says, there's a lot of good people who can help protect Cascade. But there aren't many of us who can protect the Sentinels. And we need good men who _aren't_ Sentinels more than ever. Brackett's figured out how to take out Jim and all the others. They never needed us to guard them more than they do right now."

Simon looked at both of them and took a long, slow breath. "I hear what you're saying. I do. But I don't know if I'm ready to walk away from the PD yet. That's still my city out there. Still my people." He smirked slightly. "Not to mention my career."

"Just think about it, all right?" Race asked. "I'd feel a lot better with you watching over things full-time."

"Me too, Simon," Joel put in.

Simon was flattered and was about to tell them so when Jim burst into the conversation with Blair trailing at his heels.

"That's enough of the recruitment speech for now," he said sharply.

"Don't you people check your messages?" Blair added with exasperation.

Race, Simon, and Joel exchanged a sheepish glance. They'd been so caught up in their discussion, they had missed the familiar soft chiming of their phones.

"What is it?" Simon got to his feet.

"Get your stuff together, anything you think you'd need for a take-down," Jim replied. "The others are already moving, and no," he looked at Race. "I did try to talk them out of it but the kids say they're coming and it would take too long to fight them on it."

"Coming where?" Race demanded.

"Fritz called. He's got a lead on Brackett and Zin!"


	8. Chapter 8

There's a bit in this chapter I originally wrote for Arc 3 before Arc 3 decided it needed to have an entirely different plot from my original plan. Oh well. Waste not, rewrite not.

Also, a week from today in the United States is Thanksgiving. Personally, I'm thankful for all of you who give me so much support and encouragement. I'm not sure, however, that you'll be as thankful for me when I leave you at the end of this chapter.

Enjoy!

* * *

"If I raised _any_ kind of objection, would it matter at all?" Race asked testily.

"Not a bit," Jonny quipped with a smile.

"You can't really be surprised," Benton put in. "If it wasn't enough that they grew up doing this sort of thing, that mission to the Arctic largely cemented it."

"You are quite correct, Doctor Quest," Hadji said. "Once a butterfly emerges from its transformation, it can never again fit in its cocoon, nor return to the form of a mere caterpillar."

"This is starting to feel just like old times," Race grumbled.

"Old times?" Simon raised an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know how old you boys were when you started all this adventuring daring do?"

"No, you don't," Jim shook his head. "Trust me on this."

Blair smirked. "And you guys thought 'the Sandburg zone' was bad!"

"It _is_ bad, Chief. And there's no prize for being slightly less nuts than the Quests, either," his Sentinel replied.

Simon grunted in agreement. He was also glad that he'd been able to talk Daryl and Jessie into staying behind this time, though both had objected vociferously. And, he knew, he'd pay for this omission when the time came for a real take-down of Zin's operation – there'd be no holding them back then. But this was primarily a scouting mission acting on the information from Fritz, not an all-out fight. Hopefully.

Even Benton had agreed that there was no way the old, abandoned smelting plant just outside the southern suburbs of Cascade would be Zin's primary location. A local resident had called in a UFO report on the day of the museum attack, which had been passed along without anyone taking any real notice of it until the DHS got wind of it. The site was isolated and run-down, a perfect place for Brackett to go to ground before making his next move. By now, almost a week later, there was almost no chance he would still be there, but that didn't mean he wouldn't have left some trace – or a mocking clue – behind to lead them to him.

That was why they'd wanted both Jim and Jonny along – the Sentinels had the best chance by far of picking up whatever Brackett would inadvertently or deliberately have left behind. Which meant their Guides were coming, too. Simon and Joel would not miss out on the chance to track Brackett, and keeping Race and Benton behind was even more impossible. They might have included another Sentinel, either Galina or someone like Ngama with acute awareness of the subtlest environmental factors, but the little chopper only held eight people including Race at the stick. It was state-of-the-art, designed by Benton in his free time (not that anyone knew when he had that luxury) to be Sentinel-comfortable, including sound-proofing that ensured all passengers could converse easily without the noise of the rotors above. Indeed, it was amazingly quiet from the outside as well – though no helicopter could truly run silently, it was several orders of magnitude quieter than normal. Benton had dubbed it the "WhisperQuest."

As they approached the scene, Blair turned to the two Sentinels. "What do you think? Any new friends down there?"

Jim and Jonny exchanged a look and then stretched out with their spirit animals. Even if a Sentinel hid their presence by a white-noise generator or something, they couldn't hide from this method of detection. But after a moment, the pair shook their heads.

"No Sentinels anywhere nearby," Jim said.

"Good," Race nodded. "Let's hope nobody's home, then. Though, if Brackett's there, I am going to make sure he has reason to see a good dentist." He began to pilot the chopper to the ground.

"Remember," Benton fixed his boys with a look. "We're just here for surveillance at this point."

"How do you want to do this?" Joel asked.

"Let's spread out," Jim said, peering out the windows at the site. "Sandburg and Simon and I will go around the back of the building. Race and Joel, you two go to the front. Benton, Jonny, and Hadji can start checking the perimeter for signs of a car or some other transport."

The chopper touched down and as soon as Race had powered down the rotors, the group emerged to take on their assignments. And if Race exchanged a wink with Jim, who had very neatly separated Doctor Quest and the boys and put them on the least dangerous task, well, only Race spotted it.

As soon as they began to move into position around the big, ugly building, Jim felt a prickle run up his spine. The air smelt heavily of rust and decay, and the looming, warehouse-sized plant from a hundred years prior seemed even more desolate and dangerous. A glance back told him Sandburg was also feeling it, a deep sense of warning. Jim drew his gun and signaled to Simon to do the same. Blair hadn't come armed, but he tapped his phone to alert the others to possible trouble. Then he slid into position behind Jim, shielded by most of his body. Something was here; something was wrong.

That was all the warning they had.

Suddenly half the roof of the building exploded upwards. Jim instinctively grabbed for Blair and Simon, throwing them backwards. He spotted some cover behind what had once been a broad stone well and dove for it, pushing his Guide down while Simon crouched at his side. But Blair peeked out from his concealed spot and gasped.

"Those are Zin's robots!"

Six large, black metal orbs balanced on spindly legs were crawling out of the building like enormous spiders. Unlike those Blair had seen once before, where the main body had been beach-ball sized, these were almost as big around as Jim was tall. The single red light that glowed like an eye swiveled until they spotted the three. Two of the robots began skittering in their direction.

Jim and Simon opened fire.

"We can't take these things!" Simon yelled, noting the way his bullets bounced off the robots' shells.

"Get to the chopper!" Jim ordered, yanking Blair to his feet and shoving him ahead at a run.

On the other side of the building, Race had already recognized the robots and was trying to keep their attention on himself while Joel sprinted for the chopper. "Hey! You big ugly excuses for marbles! How'd you like a punch in the eye?" A pair of the robots started firing back at Race, lasers sizzling as they hit grass while Race dodged out of the way.

Rounding the building at a full-on run, Jim realized one of the remaining robots had poised itself between them and the chopper.

"What now?" Blair asked, every instinct in his body ordering him to run but the landscape wasn't offering much in the way of good options.

"Any idea how we take those things out?" Jim wanted to know as he headed for the next bit of cover as a laser fired overhead.

"Hadji and I took them out with an EMP, but I don't think we've got one of those on us right now!"

The laser raked the side of the building above where they had ducked behind a pile of debris, raining stone and sparks on them.

And then a voice shouted loud enough to be heard even over the fighting. "STOP!"

To Jim's surprise, the robots actually paused in their assault. He peeked over the pile to see Race curled on the ground with a nasty burn along his calf where he hadn't ducked quick enough. Joel was pinned down behind a collapsed wall halfway to the chopper.

Benton strode up to the nearest robot, one that had been guarding the helicopter, Jonny and Hadji at his side.

"Doc, don't!" Race shouted, his voice laced with pain. "Don't do it!"

"Zin, I know you can hear me!" Benton yelled, ignoring him.

Three of the robots continued to menace Race, Joel, and the spot where Jim, Simon, and Blair were crouched, but the other three surrounded Benton and the boys. In the air above, a hologram of Doctor Zin himself appeared, projected by his robots.

"So nice to see you again, my old enemy," he said, almost politely. "Welcome to my parlor, little flies."

"What do you want, Zin?" Benton demanded. "You must have led us here for a reason."

"You're correct, Doctor Quest. Though I did not know for certain if you yourself would join the hunting party that was sure to follow my clues. It saves me a great deal of effort to have you here yourself. I should thank you for such courtesy."

Jonny took a step forward, his fist raised aggressively. "Quit talking and get to the point, Zin!"

"Don't," Hadji grabbed his brother.

"Your little Hadji shows wisdom and your son Jonny shows his foolishness once more," Zin taunted, looking down at them. "How few things have changed over the years!"

"My son may be impulsive, but he's not wrong. What do you want, Zin?" Benton repeated.

"Nothing you will give me. But what I do want, I will take for myself."

"And what is that?"

"The Sentinels and their Guides. The rest of you can die where you stand."

Simon swore darkly. "There's no way in hell he's getting you two."

"Or killing you," Jim agreed.

But Benton had already held out his arms, shouting "Wait!"

The robots, poised to strike, paused again. Zin's hologram cocked its head to the side like a snake. "Yes? Something to which you object?"

Benton glared. "Don't play me for a fool, Zin. If that's what you wanted, we'd already be dead. You obviously want to deal."

"Perhaps you overestimate your own worth," Zin replied. "I could just as easily have wished to bid you farewell."

Before anyone else could speak, Jonny bolted forward in front of his father. "You want a Sentinel, Zin? You can have me! Just leave everybody else alone!"

"Jonny, no!" Race cried.

But Zin had paused and was regarding him carefully. "Why should I accept your bargain when I can strike and simply take what I wish?"

Hadji moved to his Sentinel's side and they exchanged a long, meaningful look. Finally Hadji spoke. "Doctor Zin, it is obvious that you wish to acquire more Sentinels to brainwash for your own aims. And I can guess at your desire for a Guide."

"You are correct," Zin answered. "As I would expect from you, boy."

"So," Jonny finished, "I bet your little brainwashing thing works better if you have a willing volunteer instead of forcing it on somebody."

"Jonny, don't do this!" Benton exclaimed, grabbing for him.

"If you let everybody go without hurting them, I won't resist the process," Jonny said, and his voice did not waver.

"An interesting proposal," Zin mused.

"I too will surrender," Hadji said, shifting ever closer to his Sentinel, "in exchange for their lives and safety."

Jim bowed his head, fighting the urge to bellow. He was totally outgunned against a ruthless enemy and he had no way to protect his Guide or his friends. Beside him, Blair was shaking and Jim knew it was not from fear for himself, but from anger and helplessness and terror for what Jonny and Hadji were offering.

"I will accept your sacrifice under one condition," Zin finally decided. "Doctor Quest, you will join your son and his friend in my hospitality. Only then will I permit the other Sentinel and Guide as well as Race Bannon and your other allies to escape unharmed."

"Benton, _don't you dare_!" Race's voice was twisted between anguish and fury.

Benton closed his eyes and his head tipped in defeat. "Very well. Let them go and I will come quietly."

"But you let them go first!" Jonny added tightly. " _Our_ word is good. Yours is worthless."

At that, Zin actually laughed. "Cleverer and cleverer! You will be an excellent addition to my ranks, Jonny Quest." The hologram disappeared.

An instant later, the three robots holding Race, Joel, and Jim and Blair and Simon at bay shifted to the ground, folding their legs upwards. The legs bent and twisted into sets of strange propellers and in moments the three robots were airborne and heading away into the sky.

"I can't have them follow, however," Zin's voice rang out. One of the remaining robots swiveled its body and shot at the WhisperQuest, frying one of the rotors.

"Get out of here," Benton finally looked up to Race, who had somehow hobbled to his feet and was making his way across the broken ground. "Get back to safety."

"I won't let you do this!" Race raged.

"You have to," Hadji said quietly. His eyes shifted and he sought out where the others were all now openly looking out from behind the debris pile. "You have to."

Suddenly Blair rocked on his heels as though struck.

"Sandburg! You okay?" Simon caught him.

"Yeah…yeah, I guess," Blair heaved a breath. Then, "Oh, god."

But before he could explain, the three remaining robots opened like eggs cracking in half. Inside each was a tiny chamber. The robots sank to the ground and began folding their legs into rotors as well.

"Welcome aboard, Doctor Quest," Zin's voice sounded smug.

"Don't!" Race tried to lunge forward. But he overbalanced on his bad leg and went down hard. Joel hurried to his side to support him, but it was too late.

Benton, Jonny, and Hadji climbed into their waiting prisons. The robots slammed shut and took to the air.

Jim felt something inside him darken and break. "I'll find you!" he shouted, not sure if even Jonny could hear him inside there. "I promise! I'll find you!"

But they were gone.

Simon rounded on Blair. "What did Hadji tell you? I know he gave you something."

"He did. He sent the eagle into me for a moment," Blair said lowly. He looked out at where Race seemed caught up in an anger so strong it was almost indistinguishable from despair. "I don't understand it, but Hadji…he thinks this is necessary."

"You mean he _Knows_ something?" Jim asked.

But Blair shook his head. "I don't think it's that clear. But…he wasn't scared. And neither was Jonny."

"Then I hope those boys have a plan," Simon growled. "But I'm still going to wring their necks when we get them back."

"Get in line," came Race's voice. Joel had supported Race to bring him to their position. Race's eyes flashed murderously. "After I take Zin apart one piece at a time, you'll be stuck with whatever's left of those three when I'm done with them."

Jim was grateful that all of them had settled on the unspoken certainty that they _would_ get Hadji, Jonny, and Benton back safely. He only wished he felt as confident as they all sounded.

"We need to get back to the lodge," Simon said. "They've got their phones on them and other things too, right? So we can track them?"

"Right," Joel nodded. "But I think our ride is toast. I'll make the call."

Simon moved to take Race's weight so Joel could pull out his own phone, shifting slightly away from the group as he dialed.

"Jim?" Blair asked, looking up at his Sentinel. "You okay?"

"No," Jim shook his head. "We got played by Brackett _again_ , and now the Quests are paying for it."

"Not your fault," Simon said staunchly.

"Doesn't matter. I'm not gonna breathe right until we get them back."

"It could be another trick," Blair pointed out. "We have to be careful. We're still two steps behind Brackett and Zin."

"I know. You're right. Joel!" Jim called. "Tell whoever it is to put all of SELF on alert. We can't get caught by surprise again."

Joel nodded and turned back to his phone. Meanwhile, Blair knelt to look at Race's wound.

"It's a bad burn, but not too bad, I think," Blair commented. "At least, I've seen worse."

"I've _had_ worse," Race said, his voice still gravelly with his barely-suppressed emotion. "We'll bandage it up and I'll be fine."

Jim knew he should probably say something about Race taking it easy, letting himself heal, trusting the others to rescue the Quests. But the blazing look in the bodyguard's eyes silenced him. Jim could only nod. _Because if it was me, it would take two bullets before I'd give up. If it was Sandburg taken, I'd come back from the dead to find him if I had to_.

He looked up in the direction the robots had gone.

 _You better survive, all of you, and come back okay. Or I'm not going to stop Race from taking his revenge however he wants. I might even help him do it. Nobody messes with this family and gets away with it. Nobody._

-==OOO==-

It seemed like hours before the robot stopped moving, opening unexpectedly. Jonny realized he was falling just in time to curl up to roll on impact. Beside him, Hadji caught himself on his feet with the lithe grace of a cat, but his father landed awkwardly and dropped with a muffled cry of pain.

"Don't move!" came a sharp, unfamiliar voice.

Jonny risked a glance up to take in his surroundings, automatically assessing with his senses. They were in a huge building, maybe a hangar of some kind. There were lots of people, all armed, surrounding them. The robots had dumped them out only a couple of yards from the ground, and they'd been dropped on what looked like a pallet of boxes, which explained why Jonny felt like he had an itchy paper-cut on his forearms where he'd hit.

And, as his senses expanded, he could tell there were Sentinels around. A _lot_ of Sentinels.

The man who had spoken was clean-cut, dressed in fatigues and carrying an automatic weapon. "Get up slowly with your hands where I can see them," he ordered sharply.

Jonny did as he was told, his focus on watching for danger. Beside him, Hadji lifted his hands serenely.

"Doctor Quest was unprepared for our arrival and may be injured. Please permit me to assist him."

"Do it fast."

Hadji tipped his head at the allowance and carefully picked his way over the unsteady boxes to assist their father to his feet. Moving slowly, Hadji helped him get to the cement ground, taking his weight when he faltered on an ankle. Jonny trusted his Guide to take care of their father and set himself in front of them both.

"We're here. What now?"

"You will come to see Doctor Zin," the man said. "What happens to you next is up to him."

The Quests exchanged glances. They fell in with the armed guards, offering no sign of resistance or aggression. Jonny went first, while Benton leaned heavily on Hadji for support. With every step they took, Jonny assessed the place, making a sensory map he would be able to recall later. If there was a later.

He decided it was probably a decommissioned transportation hub either for a shipping company that had a fleet of planes or else maybe the post office, given the sizeable hangar and adjacent warehouse connected to an office building. The complex was huge, but Jonny got the sense it hadn't been in use that long. Not only did the smell of stale air and dust cling to it, but there were aspects like the rigged lightning or the irregular piles of supplies that suggested it was temporary. Jonny had dealt with Zin enough in his life to know that Zin could have a base as well-appointed as the lodge or the manor in Maine if he wanted; the only reason he'd be staged like this was if he didn't intend to use this site permanently.

But if the location wasn't remarkable, the guards were. Jonny knew, and he knew Hadji could tell as well, that they were surrounded by Sentinels and probably partial-Sentinels. Dozens, scores, maybe hundreds. Jonny wondered if they had all been brainwashed. He was afraid they had.

When they were pushed into a large elevator, large enough for eight guards to escort them, Hadji took the break to look at the man who had addressed them. "Excuse me, sir, but you look familiar to me."

"Never met," the man said shortly.

Jonny caught a glance between his brother and his father and wondered what they seemed to know. But, surrounded by Sentinels, there was no way for them to whisper it to him.

The elevator stopped after several floors and they were hustled off it.

Jonny heard his father snort and he smiled slightly. _Yeah, this is more like the pretentious, crazy Zin I know_ , he thought. _He's the only bad guy ever who decorates his private floor before he even fixes all the wiring_. "Nice carpet," he said dryly. "Matches all the rest of the Evil Villain of Asian Influence décor going on in here."

"I will say one thing for our host," Hadji said behind him. "He does love to embrace the cliché."

"Shut up!" their guard snapped. But Jonny could hear his Guide's snigger and felt better.

A door at the end of the hall opened and Jonny felt the bristles on the back of his neck rise. He knew without using any of the usual five senses exactly who waited there, and it wasn't just Doctor Zin. The enemies within were not just those with an unhealthy interest in his father – there was an equally unhealthy interest in Hadji, too.

So Jonny forced himself to view the room dispassionately. He would take his cue from his brother and his father. And the room itself was interesting to study. Jonny, of course, saw everything he was supposed to see, from the stately curtains to the delicate, elegant art, to the deliberately dim lighting. He also knew what to look for, and found what he didn't see far more interesting than Zin's ostentatious taste. There was no computer in this room – Jonny would have heard its hum. The desk was broad and dramatic, but Jonny couldn't smell a single piece of paper or pen within it.

 _It's all for show. There's nothing real here. Well, except the Zins_.

Doctor Zin stood from behind the desk, his twin daughters flanking him. "It is so good to see you, my enemy," he said with a cold smile. "Was your journey pleasant?"

Benton drew himself up, carefully balancing his weight so he could face Zin without leaning on Hadji. "I expect you want to humiliate me and make me suffer, Zin," Benton snapped. "Do us both a favor and don't bore me, too."

Zin's smile widened and he chuckled. "So arrogant. And yet, that is something I have always admired about you. Even in the face of death, you still possess a noble sense of honor and humor."

Jonny couldn't help himself. "Yeah, well, you wouldn't know nobility or honor if it came up and bit you in the face, Zin!"

Zin's eyes shifted to Jonny and he shivered under the menace in that perceptive gaze that seemed to look straight through him. "Unfortunate, however," he said to Benton while never looking away from Jonny, "that your son has failed to learn restraint. If this portion of his personality should by some chance remain intact after his programming, I am certain he will experience a great deal of punishment at my hand. Speaking of which…"

Zin gestured and the nearest guard handed over a black chain whip, a length of seven metallic segments joined by a few links of chain with a sharpened dart on one end. He closed his thin fingers around the ebony handle with almost a sigh.

"Rudeness will not be tolerated, son of Quest."

With the speed of a viper, Zin struck at Jonny.

Jonny had braced himself for the blow, knowing anything he did would only make any punishment doled out to himself worse, so he had not intended to duck. He did, however, close his eyes and reflexively pull all his dials down. When no strike landed, he looked up in surprise.

Hadji stood before him, one arm outstretched. Jonny could see the rapidly reddening flesh where a thick welt would soon rise on his forearm, the blow having torn right through his sleeve.

"Hadj! You shouldn't have done that!" Jonny told him.

Hadji did not turn around, his gaze firm upon Zin. "A Guide protects a Sentinel. Jonny has agreed to allow you to rewrite his mind, and I cannot ask him to revoke his given word. But I will not permit you to harm him otherwise."

Zin's face again split with a small smile. "Brave words for one whom I could order killed this instant."

"Be that as it may," Hadji returned, "I have made my decision."

Behind him, Jonny could sense his father's tension, the choked-off words he didn't dare speak. Hadji was making a stand and Jonny knew his father wouldn't risk showing weakness by displaying concern even though his heart pounded with it.

"Father," one of the twins said, and Jonny guessed it must be Anaya from the hungry way her eyes seized on Hadji. "We are wasting time."

"True," Zin shrugged. "After the procedure is complete, there will be time enough for my entertainment. And you," he narrowed his eyes at Hadji, "would do well to remember that not only the younger Quest but his father as well are within my grasp. I respect your bravery, but do not prove to be as foolish as your Sentinel or you will suffer a far worse fate than he."

Hadji inclined his head regally and stepped back.

"Now, bid farewell to Jonny Quest. When next you see him, he will be mine, body and soul."

Hadji turned around and faced Jonny. Jonny ran one hand feather-light over the wound on Hadji's arm, but he said nothing. He only hoped Hadji knew that Jonny was sorry, hated that he was hurt, loved him, was scared for him, would protect him, and trusted him with everything.

Hadji put his hands on Jonny's shoulders. "Be well, my Sentinel."

Jonny felt the pull of their bond, their connection. For an instant, he recalled the feather Hadji had once given him, and he thought as though he felt it glowing anew in his chest. He could feel Hadji's words spoken through the soul.

 _You will always be mine first. I will not lose you to anything and I will not be parted from you. I promise. Have faith_.

Then Hadji stepped back and Jonny was engulfed in an embrace by his father. "I'm so sorry, son. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, dad. I agreed to this. It's going to be fine," he said, trying to sound confident. It didn't matter, though – the Zin daughters could hear the frightened tattoo of his heartbeat.

"Come now. You will witness the transformation," Zin said.

The guards prodded the Quests through another door which opened into a room with a row of cots. Sitting at a desk at the near end of the room was a man. As soon as they caught sight of him, both Hadji and Benton blinked in shock.

"Ah, we meet again," the man smiled. "And how similar our circumstances."

"Will you give us your name this time, sir?" Hadji asked coldly. "Or shall we continue to refer to you as 'Sunshine' as we did once before?"

 _Sunshine_? Jonny's thoughts raced. _That's the guy who kidnapped Blair in Borneo and then took dad and Hadji to Brunei! He was part of that Wellmen Global group behind everything. He's here? And working for Zin_? Then Jonny glanced back at their guard. _That's why Hadji thought he looked familiar – he's a little younger, but the resemblance is obvious. They must be brothers_.

"Mister Samuels has become an invaluable resource," Zin said. "He will be the one to initiate you into your new life, Jonny Quest."

"Have a seat. It's really best if you start lying down. You'll be unconscious for several hours after I'm finished," the elder Samuels said. "We've found that the more work is required to overwrite the existing thought patterns, the more difficult your recovery."

"Unlike with the little gift I sent back to you at the museum," Zin added, "I will not turn you into a mindless killing machine. I will simply change all your base assumptions and loyalties. Perhaps even your memories. As much as you ever have been a Quest, you will soon consider yourself a willing slave of the Zin name."

 _Fat chance of that_ , Jonny thought, but remembered that chain whip and kept it unsaid. Still, his legs wobbled as he made for the nearest bed.

"Just relax," Samuels said, approaching with an injection of drugs and a helmet wired for visuals and sound. "It will be less painful if you simply accept your fate."

 _Even fatter chance_.

The last thing Jonny saw before the visor closed over his eyes was the stricken, frightened expression on his father's face, and the blazing, determined one on Hadji's.

The next few moments were somewhat anticlimactic to watch, as Jonny succumbed to the drug injection and the stimulus of the helmet without so much as a whimper. When his breathing slowed and he was clearly unconscious, Samuels adjusted the helmet and turned away.

"That's it," he said with a shrug. "A lifetime forged in passion, erased as easily as falling asleep. Pitiful."

Benton couldn't quite hide the moan that was the only bit of his agony he could stand to let escape before his enemies. And where he leaned on Hadji still, he felt the young man tremble under him.

"Until such time as he wakes, you will be confined," Zin said, dismissing them. "I have other matters more worthy of my attention for the moment."

But Benton didn't need to be a Sentinel to sense the hidden glee shivering through Zin at the ultimate defeat of his life-long enemy.

The other guard, one Benton believed was the younger brother of the man he still thought of as 'Sunshine,' led the company of soldiers away, through a few hallways until they came to a room that had probably once been used for cold storage – it had the appearance of a walk-in freezer though it was room-temperature.

Suddenly one of the daughters of Zin was there, shoving Benton hard into what was to be his prison. He hit the far wall and allowed himself to crumple to the floor as his weakened ankle gave way.

"Leave us now," she commanded the other guards. And though the guard related to Sunshine hesitated, even he did not disobey nor ask any questions. He turned and led his company away.

Hadji, in the doorway, faced the Zin Sentinel. "Anaya. What do you want?"

"I give you this choice, Hadji," Anaya said with a menacing imitation of her father's smile. "Come and speak with me – alone. Or refuse and I will put a bullet through Doctor Quest's knee. My father has commanded we not kill his enemy yet, but he will be generous with my interpretation of his orders."

"Hadji..." Benton looked to his son with fear, not for himself, in his eyes. "You don't have to do this."

"Yes, I do, Doctor Quest," Hadji said with quiet dignity. "Jonny will not forgive me if I allow you to come to pain."

Benton had watched most of Hadji's life closely enough to learn to read the young man, so he understood the comment well, understood that Hadji was downplaying his own concern for his father as always to protect him, that Hadji himself could not let harm come to the man who had been the only father he had ever known even if he could not say as much. Benton marveled at his son's courage and capacity to master his own fear.

Hadji allowed himself to be led away, only his own discipline keeping him from shivering as the door clanged shut behind him, barring him from Doctor Quest. But he caused no trouble and did not resist even when his hands were manacled to a ring on a table in a room devoid of any furniture but that which was bolted down.

"We will not be overheard here," Anaya said, leaning against the wall and watching Hadji sit on the narrow bench, his hands folded and his face serene as if he were waiting for a meal in a restaurant.

"You asked to speak with me," Hadji said carefully. "I assume you do not wish your father or your sister to share in this confidence."

"You are only half right," she admitted. "It is not in my father's interest to know of our conversation. But Melana knows. She is my sister."

Hadji said nothing and waited with a neutral expression, keeping his awareness sharp in the heavy threat hanging around him.

"I offer you the chance to join us once again, to be my Guide," Anaya said. She ran a hand through her long black hair with a slight smile. "It could be...very _enjoyable_ for you, Hadji."

"You will not tempt me with your charms," Hadji answered coldly. "Let us be frank with one another, Sentinel."

At that, Anaya smiled more genuinely. "This is what I value in you, Hadji. You may be unparallelled as a Guide, but you are also rare as a man. You have a mind worthy of association with the Zin name, and you are not foolish enough to be swayed by distractions."

"You speak of Zin intelligence," Hadji responded, raising an eyebrow archly, "and yet you already know the answer I will give you. Why bother to ask a question for which you already have the only answer I will ever give you?"

"Your loyalty to Quest is admirable," Anaya said, sliding to sit on the bench across the table from Hadji. She closed her hands on his, and though the chains gave him enough slack to pull away, he did not. "But it is misplaced."

Hadji pretended the hands on the table touching the Sentinel that made his skin crawl belonged to someone else. "How so?"

"Jonny Quest was your childhood friend. But he is ours now and forever. Do you not wish to join him?"

"What if, instead, I choose to remain with Doctor Quest in the hope that we might bring Jonny back to himself?" Hadji asked honestly.

"Because it is Doctor Quest who has betrayed you, Hadji," Anaya said. She met his eyes steadily, her sincerity unfeigned.

Hadji forced himself to take a deep breath. "What do you mean?"

"Have you never wondered why Doctor Quest chose to rescue an orphan, a beggar-child from the street, and make him a companion to his own son?"

"Many times," was Hadji's truthful answer.

"And what reason has he given you?"

"That it was the right thing to do."

Anaya shook her head a little sadly. "Of course it was, Hadji. But not right for _you_. It was right for him and for his own designs."

Hadji closed his eyes briefly before saying, "And what designs do you mean by this?"

"Over the years, my father has stolen information from the Quest systems many times. You know this." At Hadji's nod, she continued, "Often, we were able to escape only with files not deemed important by my father, as they had little strategic value in his battle against his enemy. But I have recently searched through them with a new aim, and I would like to show you what I have found. Can you permit me?"

"It seems I have little choice," Hadji said.

"You have every choice, my Guide," Anaya said. "I tried once to take you by force. Now I see that you must accept my offer willingly if you are to truly become mine, heart and soul. And I _will_ make you mine, Hadji. I _will_."

"Show me what you have uncovered, Anaya," Hadji told her, not looking away from her face.

Anaya rose and moved to one wall where she retrieved a waiting laptop from a shelf. She lifted it and set it on the table where it was clearly visible to her captive.

"You know that Doctor Quest regularly records testimonies for his record-keeping, do you not?"

"Of course."

"Many of those we would have wished to acquire eluded us, but this more personal entry was dragged from the Quest system many years ago. Had I discovered it two years ago when we last met, I would have shared it with you then." She looked away with what was almost sorrow. "You deserve to know this, my Hadji."

At the touch of a button, the screen lit up with Doctor Quest's face. He was many years younger – in fact, he looked as Hadji remembered him from their very first meeting. The date timestamped on the bottom suggested it was within six months of that encounter in Calcutta.

" _In the matter of Hadji, I am pleased to report he has shown great intelligence and curiosity, in spite of his humble backgrounds. With only a little effort on my part, he will soon match Jonny in learning and I expect him to surpass my own son in time. He has also proven a more than capable student of Race's in the arts of self-defense and weaponry_.

" _Therefore, I believe my plan to forge Hadji into a permanent protector to my son will be ultimately successful. His loyalty has already been won, and that obligation will only grow with repeated consideration on my part. By the time Race chooses to retire or proves no longer fit to be this family's guardian, Hadji will be primed to take his place. I have no doubt that Hadji will view the debt he owes to myself and Jonny great enough that he will spend a lifetime at my son's side to guard him no matter what Jonny chooses for himself_.

" _I have, of course, not told Jonny of my plan. He is too kind and generous and would not understand. But Race agrees with me that Hadji is a necessary tool in our ongoing fight to protect ourselves from the evils of the world. Between the two of us, we will help Hadji accept and embrace his role as shield to my son. We must be careful to support any interest he shows in Jonny and to delicately suppress any independent desires or whims. In only a few years, he will conceive of no other life than as Jonny's shadow and guardian_."

The screen went dark.

Hadji expected Anaya to gloat, but she did not. Instead, she looked away for a few moments, giving Hadji the chance to get his feelings under control.

At last he spoke. "Why did you show me this?"

Anaya returned to her place across from him and took his hands in her own, caressing them. "Hadji, you have been raised like a lamb to the slaughter by that man. You know now that he has been using you for your whole life. He never loved you, never cared for you but as a means to an end for his one and only son."

Hadji swallowed thickly.

"I know you feel loyal to him for saving you," she said softly. "I know you must. And, of course, you have Guided Jonny for a few years now. But clearly this, too, was a machination of Quest and Bannon. They are manipulators of the worst kind, Hadji, and they do not deserve your allegiance anymore."

Hadji closed his eyes.

"Please," Anaya squeezed his hands. "Come with me. Be my Guide. You will still have Jonny to care for as well. But I am a Sentinel, and from what I have learned in the last two years, I now understand that Sentinels protect Guides. We...we must. Quest has hurt you and used you. And I never will, Hadji. I will keep you safe and free of his plans."

"But I would have no true freedom," Hadji whispered. "You cannot pretend otherwise."

"According to Quest, you have _never_ known true freedom. I, at least, would be honest with you from the beginning. And if, with time, you came to understand that it is _my_ father who is worthy of your admiration, you would earn your own way with us."

Hadji opened his eyes and faced her fiercely. "You have given me much to think about. But you cannot believe I will so quickly join you. I must have time to consider everything. Without any coercion of any kind."

Anaya tipped her head, listening to the Guide. His heartbeat was steady and he was not shaking or tensing in any way. He was being sincere with her.

She smiled at him almost warmly. "Very well. I will have you moved to a private room. Perhaps a more comfortable one. And you may have as much time as you need to think. I believe you meditate, do you not?"

"Often," he said. "And I will need it more than usual while I consider this turn of events."

"Then we will not disrupt you. You will have food, of course, and peace. And I will be listening for you, my Hadji. When you decide for yourself where your heart lies, you need only call my name and I will come."

"Very well."

Anaya rose and moved to unhook his chains from the ring. Looking sideways at him through the fall of her long hair, she asked carefully, "Do you wish to see Doctor Quest before I put you in seclusion? Do you wish to say anything to him?"

Hadji shook his head firmly. "No. I have nothing to say to him at this time."

Anaya smiled. " _Very_ good, my Guide. Very good indeed."

-==OOO==-

Alone in his cell, Benton hid his face in his hands. One son was gone, his personality to be wiped away by Doctor Zin, and the other was alone with a deranged, obsessive Sentinel who had harbored an apparently prolonged interest in him.

"What have I done?" he whispered aloud. A tear trickled free. "Jonny, Hadji, forgive me. _What have I done_?"


	9. Chapter 9

Lotsa heavy stuff in here, folks. I did tell you it was going to get worse, didn't I?

Enjoy!

* * *

Blair was meditating. It was either that or go mad.

It had taken two and a half hours for anybody from the lodge to reach them, and that had been with Henri very loosely interpreting the traffic laws of Cascade. He had actually been pulled over – twice – on the trip since he couldn't get all five stranded men into a car equipped with the lights and sirens.

For the duration of their waiting, no one had really been idle. Race had started coordinating with Agent Howard Fritz trying to track the direction of the robots. Joel had put in a call to Jessie, explaining what had happened and getting her to start doing whatever she could to track the Quests by their phones if possible. Jim and Simon had called together the members of the Council plus Brian Rafe to start securing the lodge and recalling anybody connected with SELF who might not be safe, including the Sentinels and their families who had opted to live in Cascade rather than stay at the lodge. Blair had spent his time trying to soothe anybody who would let him, to keep Race off his burned leg, and regularly checking in with what he thought of as his own little 'Shadow Council.'

Because if there was one thing Blair had learned long ago, it was not to discount those who weren't the traditional on-the-front-line types when a disaster struck. Other than Jonny and Hadji, who were clearly amongst the most highly-respected and capable individuals at SELF regardless of age, Blair began coordinating with others who had vital skills that weren't necessarily immediately obvious: Daryl, Kaimi and Ngama, Luka, Emeline, Maxim, and Eric and Lai. Long before Galina reported to Jim and Simon that she had again strengthened the watch on the perimeter and had arranged escorts for any allies or Sentinels to bring them to safety, Blair had arranged his own group to other tasks. Daryl was busy assisting Jessie with the computer work. Eric and Lai were scouring records Jessie had pulled but didn't have time to analyze to see if they could find any link to Zin in a financial transaction or something. Luka and Emeline were quietly building box-lunches and easily portable supplies in case they needed to send people scattering so they wouldn't go without at least meager support. Maxim was taking those Sentinels who were not military trained and on-site family members to go and visit with the injured – and to keep them as well as Doctor Waihee out of sight. Kaimi and Ngama were working together to keep an eye on things from the Seventh.

Blair knew Jim and Race and Simon were good at their jobs, knew most of the Sentinels at the lodge knew their way around a weapon and had been in battle conditions before. But he also knew from history that wars were not necessarily only won and lost by soldiers and strategies – they were also heavily dependent upon the other logistics, intelligence, and resources.

Still, when Brown finally arrived with the van, Race _again_ brushing off any idea that he might possibly need to go to a hospital for his leg, Blair found himself at something of loose ends. He wasn't sure what more he could do until he knew more about what was needed.

And he couldn't stand sitting around not doing anything. All that did was leave him with a series of impressions he _really_ didn't need.

Benton's white face as he faced down the robots.

Jonny's palpable fear mixed with bravery as he offered to willingly let himself be brainwashed to spare Jim the same fate, not to mention the rest of their lives.

Hadji's tawny eagle winging towards him in a flash of ragged will.

It was this last that bothered him the most. Blair had been interacting with Hadji in the astral or via meditation or with spirit animals for years. They'd meditated together, shared techniques and insights, battled Jonny's Sentinel sickness together. They'd even merged for a while during that whole thing in the Arctic trying to save the Sentinels in that research installation that turned out to be a Zin base. Blair was willing to wager that he knew Hadji's spirit animal and, by extension, his Guide nature on a metaphysical level at least as well as Jonny did if not better because, for all Jonny's open-mindedness, Blair and Hadji explored it more often together.

Only once before had Blair seen Hadji's eagle look so strangely unkempt. It wasn't broken and injured and ill the way it had been when Jonny had been suffering from Sentinel sickness, but it had looked thin, its feathers mussed and molting. The only other time Blair remembered Hadji's eagle looking that way had been right after the Arctic, when they were both still stretched too thin between one another. His own wolf had looked pretty scrawny and patchy then, too.

But, as far as Blair knew, there was no reason for Hadji to look so strange.

Unless something was going on.

And, of course, it didn't help that Hadji's last message, as the eagle had passed through Blair's chest, had been slightly more complicated than what he had related to Jim. Oh, he'd given his Sentinel the bare-bones truth, but what he hadn't mentioned was the strange cloud of foreboding that hung in the afterglow of that connection. Blair would have bet all his own money, and he was so sure he'd have thrown in Jim's too, that somewhere in his metaphysical wanderings, Hadji had stumbled upon something that portended really, _really_ bad things.

So, while the others talked about lookouts and sensory sweeps and satellite feeds and, once again, whether or not Race should let Leilani do something about that leg (which he refused in no uncertain terms), Blair closed his eyes and listened to his breathing.

In for a long eight beats, in time with the rhythm of his heart.

Hold for four beats, his thoughts only on a golden light and the shape of a circle.

Out for a long eight beats, releasing the noise and shadow and cobwebs of the world around him.

Hold for four beats of inner stillness.

Blair slipped into Jim's Peruvian jungle after only a few minutes. First things first, he shouted for Hadji. But his fellow Guide did not answer nor appear, and Blair had no sense of him. That meant either he was unable to mediate because he was focused on the material world, or he was so far under he was beyond the indigo plane entirely.

Blair wasn't sure which he hoped was true.

Transforming to a wolf, he loped through the jungle to find the Temple. This, he always thought, was kind of unfair. The Temple didn't exist as a place. This whole thing didn't exist as a place. As Hadji always said, 'where' didn't matter. But the world of the spirit demanded that any seekers of the Temple journey to find it, so no matter how urgent the need or how familiar the traveler, there was always a required period of running through trees before the Temple would reveal itself.

At the entrance to the Temple, Blair paused. He _Knew_ , even without taking another step, that Ngama and Kaimi were inside, Ngama anchoring his Guide on the Seventh Step while she operated beyond the Door. He briefly wondered if she was aware of him, but decided it didn't matter.

 _Well, no Hadji_ , he thought with annoyance. _Now what_?

But he'd barely had the thought when the answer made itself clear.

 _If Hadji's struggling with something from here, I should probably try to figure out what it is_.

Led by instinct more than any sort of conscious decision, Blair headed into the Temple. However, he didn't turn down the corridor that led to the Steps and the Seventh Door. Instead, after a deep, calming breath, he padded towards the room that, in the temple in Mexico, had held the pools of enlightenment that had stolen Alex Barnes's sanity and almost Jim's as well.

Blair felt a shiver that ruffled his wolf fur. He hadn't been in here since – ever. He hadn't wanted to be here. Not when his only memory of the place was contaminated by a canister of a deadly chemical weapon, the Sentinel who had killed him, and his own Sentinel holding her sweetly.

 _I swore I put that behind me, and I did_ , he told himself firmly. _And it wasn't even Jim's fault. We couldn't have known then about Sentinel sickness, or that Alex was trying to get pregnant with his offspring. Jim would have tried to save anybody, and would have done anything to keep her from using that gas, and none of that was about me. Plus, I think his Seventh kind of fried her that last time she tried to bond with him again. And he's my Sentinel now. Mine_.

"All true," came a voice Blair knew. As he entered the chamber, his head swiveled to see a familiar form standing between the pools.

Speaking as a wolf had never come easily to Blair, so he transformed. "Incacha? What are you doing here? How are you even here?"

"Where there is life, young shaman, there is hope. You know this."

Blair nodded. "Yeah, okay. And 'here' is relative anyway. Sorry. I'll start over. Hi Incacha! It's good to see you!" The smile was real even if he was also amused.

Incacha laughed brightly. "Spirited and insolent, yet reverent. No wonder your Enqueri chose you, young one."

"You wouldn't be here if it wasn't really important," Blair said, stepping closer. "And you probably know why I'm here."

"Your concern for the eagle, as well as for the fate of your people. You are a true shaman now," Incacha said approvingly. "As I knew you would be."

"I'm loving the frank conversation, not to mention the lack of language barrier, and I have at least one-point-five million questions, but I'm worried we don't have time. Can we pick up the praise later and skip to the information?"

Incacha nodded. "Yes. And while I am not so readily found as your brother and sister Guides, I am found when you truly need me, at least for now. When that changes, I shall alert you."

Blair was standing near one of the pools, and as he moved his hand dipped low enough to feel a touch of moisture. Suddenly he was hit by a vision and tipped sideways as things rushed into his brain. "You're…you're gonna be reborn someday. As…seriously? Their kid?"

Incacha was quick to pull Blair up before he tipped into the pool. "That is one possibility, yes. The visions from the pool that you receive while here are far more potent than those in the world from which you came, but know that they are just as subject to change."

"So, like how Jim saw visions and stuff when Alex dumped him in a pool, if I go in one of the pools here, I could see possible futures?"

"And your present and your past. As did Enqueri. And not all of it is pleasant. Much of what he saw was your death, repeated again and again. Some were possibilities that did not come to pass. Some were futures that you have avoided or that have not yet come to call. One was real."

Blair gulped. "Yeah, that'd be why he doesn't talk about it. It's okay. I don't need to know."

"You are correct. It is not Enqueri with whom you should be concerned."

Insight hit Blair like a rock. "Hadji. Hadji's been in these pools."

"He is careful, the young eagle. Or perhaps not so young – his soul is far older than mine. But it is the mind and will that rule, and the soul must wait to be freed of the flesh to know its truth."

Blair let that part pass. "So Hadji's been dipping in the vision pools, and that's why he looks so bad?" He met Incacha's eyes and gulped. "Are they like…addictive? Like a drug that it's dangerous to use?"

"Yes," Incacha nodded, "but the eagle is careful. Long before his first attempt, he left behind an anchor to lead him out even without the conscious help of his Sentinel."

Blair nodded. He'd been too closely entwined with Hadji's soul for a little while there not to know about the feather he'd ripped from his own eagle and embedded in Jonny. It was probably the most reckless thing Blair had ever known him to do. But maybe it hadn't been so reckless after all.

"Okay. So he doesn't look bad because he's overdosing. He looks bad because of what's here."

"You are correct. But he is now preparing to face a challenge I would wish on no Guide, and one many would not survive. So it is good you come to me that I might share the warning for you to carry back with you."

"Yeah, definitely. Lay it on me."

"Do you trust me, young shaman?" Incacha asked, his dark eyes meeting Blair's unflinchingly.

Blair nodded. "Yes, I do."

"Good. Then take this."

Incacha drew a small waterskin from his belt and dipped it in the nearest pool. Blair watched, wondering idly if Incacha was inundated with visions from having his hands drenched, or if being dead meant you had more control. When he had a good couple of swallows captured in the skin, he held it before Blair, waving one hand over the opening in a complicated motion.

"Drink but once, and trust everything and nothing that you see," Incacha warned him. "And remember it all, for you will not have time to return here for clarity. If the eagle loses his way, you are the last hope."

Blair felt his throat go dry. But he met Incacha's gaze with a steadiness he wasn't sure he felt. "I'll do my best."

"May it be enough," Incacha told him, and held out the waterskin.

Blair licked his lips nervously, then took it from Incacha, throwing his head back and letting a stream of the cold water run into his mouth which he swallowed without hesitation.

The Temple shattered around him.

 _Monsters_

 _Fire burning_

 _Lightning striking_

 _Jim dead_

 _Cascade a wasteland_

 _Hadji dead_

 _Jonny dead_

 _The lodge reduced to ash and rubble_

 _Monsters with long black legs_

 _Stars exploding_

 _A sound that ripped apart houses_

 _Fire and ash and cloud_

 _Zin dead_

Then.

 _Six candles_

 _Seven flames_

 _A wall of darkness_

 _The candles melting_

 _And then the sun rising and the candles blazing strong_

Blair woke up in the back of the van to Jim shaking him. "Sandburg! Blair! God, are you okay?"

Blair coughed on a sob and felt wetness on his face. "Y…yeah? Jim? What…?"

"Must have been some dream," Joel commented lowly.

"It wasn't! It was…oh god," Blair put his head down on Jim's shoulder and closed his eyes. "I have to figure it out and I don't know how. But…there's trouble. Really, really bad trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Race demanded.

Blair thought about the visions. The monsters. Zin.

"Something's coming after the lodge."

-==OOO==-

Even if Blair hadn't _Known_ it, by the time they reached the lodge, Jim would have known his Guide was right. Jim could feel a crawling anxiety in his gut that told him that something was really wrong. And every Sentinel they passed looked strained, tense, as if on the edge of a zone-out waiting for something that was just out of range. Galina, taking point on the gate, looked ready to rip her hair out with the strange wrongness.

When the van hit the lodge, everyone bolted for the room the Council used when they needed privacy – it had a big table and a big screen, and it was where Jessie and Daryl had dragged three spare laptops and set up their search.

"Start at our perimeter and work outwards," Jim said as he strode into the room, Race leaning on Joel and hobbling behind. "Something's coming."

To his surprise, it was Brian manning the computer with Ngama at his side.

"What are you doing here?" Simon was confused.

"Jessie and Daryl took off when Kaimi came in here shouting about bugs," Rafe explained.

"She had a vision from beyond the Seventh Door," Ngama added. "I have been directing the computer to the correct coordinates for what she perceived."

As he spoke, the central screen lit up with a satellite feed of the surrounding area. Following the indications Ngama had already given, the view zoomed in to a small clearing about twenty miles to the east.

"Oh god," Simon gaped as the image clarified.

Just then, Jessie, Daryl, and Kaimi came skidding into the room, almost crashing into those who were still in the doorway.

"Did you find it?" Kaimi cried.

"I'd say so," Jim pointed grimly.

Blair felt himself go pale. _Those were definitely the monsters from my vision_ , he thought. _But I didn't think there would be so many_. He forced the image away. The rest of the vision would have to wait until he had a little more to go on.

"I count at least sixty of those damn robots, rolling straight for us," Joel said, and he kept his voice masterfully calm.

"According to this as well as my own perception," Ngama added, "I believe we have less than an hour before they will arrive."

"So what are we going to do?" Brown asked. "If we run, they'll just follow us, and we don't want those things anywhere near Cascade. I guess we could shove some chairs against the front door, try to hold them off?"

Everybody stared at him.

Brown frowned, confused. "What?"

Simon smacked his forehead and wiped a hand down his face. "God help us. Didn't you even read the orientation book we gave you? How long have you been coming here, detective?"

Race was shaking his head. "Are you even _aware_ of the fact that this is _Quest_ compound? Good lord, man. Next you'll have us sharpening sticks to use as spears."

"What does that mean?" Rafe asked. He hadn't read the book, either.

"Watch and learn, boys," Jessie smiled smugly. "Watch and learn."

"IRIS. Identify: Race Bannon," Race said smartly. He shoved himself upright, finishing wrapping a splint and bandage Joel had grabbed from a nearby emergency kit around his shin and striding with only the barest limp to the front of the room.

"Race Bannon identified. How may I be of help?"

"We have an emergency. Level Rachel Alpha."

"Rachel Alpha confirmed," IRIS replied. "Security measures preparing for deployment. All superfluous programs paused. Full processing functionality is now available."

"It means the computer isn't doing all the gazillion things it usually does," Blair whispered in explanation. "She's not doing whatever computations she usually runs for Benton's experiments or tracking weather patterns or installing new drivers or pulling news headlines from all over the world and translating every one of them into 200 languages."

"She does all that?" Brown asked.

"She?" Simon raised an eyebrow.

"And a lot more," Jessie said. "A _whole lot_ more. But not when we need the best reaction time."

"Okay, IRIS. Sound the high priority alarm. I want every single person on site to be inside the lodge in five minutes. Keep a running count and make sure you can tell us who is missing and where they are. I also need you to send a coded message to Agent Fritz. Include the sensor readings from the incoming robots."

"Do you wish to personalize the message?"

"Sure. Tell him to get his butt out here with all the firepower he can carry and not to skimp on the heavy artillery and explosives."

"Message sent. Alarm sounded. All registered individuals are converging on the greatroom. Anticipated arrival of first 80% is under ten minutes."

"Does this mean that IRIS tracks our movements all the time?" Kaimi wanted to know.

Daryl nodded. "Yup. And good thing, too, or we'd have to do a search for everybody."

Race was still giving orders. "As soon as any building is vacant, go to full lock-down mode. Same thing as the zones clear and the footpaths empty. I want every single security measure deployed the instant the people are clear."

"Initiating now."

"What about the perimeter?" Jim asked. "Can't we defend from there?"

"Oh, we'll do something," Race told him, "but there's no cover out there that can withstand the robots. We can't fight from the fence, though we'll slow them down. IRIS, are the perimeter guards coming in?"

"Fourteen remain at their posts. The rest are inbound."

"Jim, order them," Simon said. "They'll listen to you."

Jim nodded. He took a deep breath and Ngama lowered his dials, retreating from monitoring the activity outside just in time for the wall-shaking shout. " _RETREAT TO THE LODGE! THAT IS AN ORDER, SENTINELS!_ " Jim bellowed, throwing all his force of command and his anger into the volume.

"Remaining fourteen guards have begun to move inwards," IRIS reported.

"Okay. As soon as they're clear, full defensive measures on the outer perimeter. As they clear each ring, initiate those as well," Race said.

"Specify lethality."

Even Simon's eyes widened at that, but Race didn't pause. "What's the range?"

"Minimum taser stun damage to full electrocution," IRIS said. "Specify subjectively or based on voltage."

"That's the souped-up electric fence," Jessie said. "Plus some directional pulse blasts, I think."

"Full lethality," Race said. "And I want EMPs at maximum strength deployed regularly as well, as strong as you can make them without frying our control over the defenses."

"Activated."

"So where does that leave us?" Simon asked.

"IRIS, display security simulation on the screen," Race ordered.

A map of the SELF compound flashed into view, various areas lit up or marked with patterns. Race pointed to each as he explained. "At the outer perimeter, we have everything from the electric fence, automated projectile weaponry, and EMP guns. After that, every two-hundred yards marks the beginning of a new ring of security, totally independent from the previous. Even if they knock out an entire area, the next will come online. In addition to what was on the outside, we have some extra tricks scattered about, everything from trapdoors and pitfalls and spikes to flamethrowers. Right before the buildings, there's one more layer, twice as dense as all the previous rings and unless Benton missed his deadline a few months ago, there should be some of his preliminary BIG GUNS."

"What are BIG GUNS?" Simon asked, feeling the acronym behind the phrase.

"I can't tell you," Race shrugged. "They're top-secret, so top-secret even _I'm_ not supposed to know about them. They're the weapons of the future that Benton designed a decade ago and refused to hand over to the government. They're not technically illegal since they don't technically exist. I think he built four."

The only person in the room not caught in either open, flabbergasted astonishment or a paltry attempt to hide it was Jessie, to whom most of this was not surprising. Race shrugged and turned back to the screen.

"If the last perimeter is breached, we get to the actual lodge security. Now, every building on site has reinforced construction, metal shutters to close the windows and doors, fire resistance and a certain amount of bullet-proofing. Also, every marked path and most of the grounds on the compound are littered with more traps guaranteed to give anything walking into them a bad day. It might not slow those spiders down, but it's worth a try.

"Anyway, then there's the lodge. IRIS, enhance view.

"As soon as everybody's inside, we'll seal the building, covering every entrance and exit in two-inch-thick metal plates. There's also the false floor that we'll open up as soon as everyone is in place."

"False floor?" Joel asked. "I don't remember that one."

"You wouldn't," Race smirked. "We didn't tell you about it."

He touched the screen and the image moved, showing a map of the building. "When we added that new wing, you remember we did a lot of digging for the foundation? We actually built a special bunker underneath it, four stories down from the surface. The bunker is absolutely impenetrable, able to withstand the impact of a nuke, and shielded against every form of detection known to man including Sentinel senses. It's got provisions in it, including oxygen, to last half the total anticipated population of the lodge for a month, or our current population for longer. Once we back in there, _nothing_ can get to us."

"Someday, you're gonna tell me how you get all this stuff built," Simon said, struggling to sound like the member of the Council who had, in theory, known about most of these extensive security measures and not the guy who had skimmed the specifics and figured it wouldn't ever be that bad.

"It's simple, really," Blair spoke up. "Imagine I gave you directions to build me a spindle of wood. Just one. And I had all the specifications laid out. Then I asked Brian for another spindle. Then I asked Jim to build me the seat of a chair. Jim might guess I was making a chair, since he got the big piece, but Jim is trustworthy."

"Are you saying we aren't?" Brian asked archly.

"I'm _saying_ ," Blair returned, rolling his eyes, "that we broke down the specifications for the bunker into a series of component parts and farmed them out using everything from Benton's contacts abroad to some shell companies apparently owned by the Quest corporation. We got the parts we couldn't build ourselves divided up between groups who don't talk to each other, sometimes even nations who don't talk to each other. Then we just had to put them together."

"But who actually put everything together?" Henri asked. "I don't remember a bunch of strangers in orange vests and hard-hats around."

"That I can't tell you," Race shook his head. "Let's just say we called in a favor from somebody who doesn't live around here and doesn't have anybody to tell."

"If you say 'aliens,' I am so outta here," Jim muttered.

Race shrugged. "Sure, go with that. Anyway, those are all the automated defenses. There's also a whole panic room of gear we can use if we want to go one-on-one with these bad boys. Which, to be honest, I think we should try. There's a secondary escape path down to the bunker that we can use if we get overwhelmed, but Zin's robots are probably being manually controlled. IRIS is good, but a human brain is better."

"And," Kaimi spoke up, "we have an idea."

"Oh you do, do you?" Race looked at her archly.

Kaimi didn't shrink under the stern attention directed her way from everybody. "Race, you know those spider-bots better than anybody, right?"

"Probably," he grumbled.

"Jessie told us that they're vulnerable to an electromagnetic pulse, but also that they tend to be shielded."

"Right," Blair nodded at her. "The little ones Hadji and I met a few years ago weren't shielded, which is how we shut them down. But these big ones look a lot better constructed."

"What are you getting at?" Jim asked, feeling the threads of an idea coming together in his mind as well.

"It was Daryl's idea," Kaimi said, smiling at her friend. "He's the one who noticed it."

"Noticed what?" Simon looked to his son.

"Well, any time Blair and Hadji would hold the classes about spirit animals, if Jessie and I were working anywhere nearby, sometimes our laptops would act really funny. Not shut down completely, but kind of wig out."

"Is that a technical term?" Henri quipped.

Daryl ignored him. "Eventually, we realized that the spirit animals themselves give off a vague electromagnetic signature. From a distance, it isn't really even that noticeable, and you wouldn't see it at all unless you were using unshielded tech like my old laptop."

"But as soon as we heard about the spider-bots from Joel," Kaimi picked up the narrative, "it gave us an idea."

Jessie stepped up. "This was one of the spare Quest phones. I stuck it in a sealed metal box to simulate the additional armor on the spider-bots. Otherwise, it's probably comparable in terms of sophistication and on-board processing. And we let Kaimi have a go at it – and it fried."

"Oh my god," Blair's mouth fell open. "It was that easy? And we didn't know… We could have saved Benton and Jonny and Hadji just like that and..."

"Easy, Sandburg," Jim grabbed his shoulder. "It's not your fault."

"Are you telling us that the spirit animals can actually take out those things?" Race's eyes were wide.

Jessie nodded. "We think so. But not remotely. It takes actual contact. The spirit animal has to dive through the shielding and exert a tiny bit of whatever-it-is while inside. We already tested it with the phone, anyway. We won't know for sure how the spider-bots will take to it until we try, but…"

"But you might have just handed us a way to beat these things once and for all!" Race cheered. "One Zin definitely won't see coming."

"However," Kaimi pointed out, "it takes either a Sentinel or a Guide with really strong awareness of their spirit animal. And Jessie isn't kidding about the exertion of power, either. It's not easy."

"It is almost impossible," Blair said, looking up with haunted eyes. "For any Sentinel who has never bonded with a Guide, it's not something they'll be able to do more than once if at all without zoning. I _Know_ it."

"He's right," Daryl said softly. "We asked Angie and Melly to try it too. Melly got it okay, but Angie zoned on the first try."

"Which leaves us with you four, since Melly's still in pretty rough shape, plus being underage," Simon said. "And I suppose you have to be able to see your target?"

"Since we're going after technology and not people we _Know_ , yeah," Blair nodded. "And it doesn't work over a camera, either. We'll have to be on the outside somewhere to actually see the robots with our own eyes."

Race looked over the group. On the one hand, they had an advantage they had never imagined, a way to knock out the robots that had been a threat to the Quests for decades, and the bodyguard could not be happier about it. But on the other, that meant putting three civilians, two of them college students, directly in the line of fire. From the gathered expressions, _nobody_ was happy about it. But, on the other hand, nobody had any better ideas, either. Even if the hidden bunker was impenetrable and unassailable, they couldn't just retreat down there and wait until Zin got bored and went away. They needed to defeat Zin – soundly – and race to his stronghold to spring Benton and Jonny and Hadji before it was too late.

Race looked up and met Jim's eyes. Even now, though Race wasn't a Sentinel and considered no man his boss – the only orders he followed now came from people with the last name of Quest – he recognized that this was Jim's turf, his tribe, and his call. He'd back whatever Jim decided.

Jim accepted the weight of that trust. "Okay. We'll evacuate everybody to the bunker who isn't going to fight with their spirit animals. I know most of the tribe are trained soldiers, but this isn't something we can fight with guns – we just have to hold them off and stay alive while the spirit animals do the work. Joel, I know you've been sitting in on a lot of classes. I want you to pick a backup crew, call it six Sentinels with the strongest chance of taking out those robots if we go down." He glanced to Brown and Rafe. "I need to include Angie and Melly in that group."

"They'll want to help," Rafe said tightly after a long moment. "But thanks for putting them in the auxiliary rather than the attack force."

Jim nodded. "I want you two to stay with that group anyway. If we need them in a hurry, I'm counting on the two of you to get them up here."

"Understood," Brown said soberly.

Jim turned back. "Simon, Joel, Race, and I will hold position in the most defensible spot we can. Daryl, Jessie, Ngama, you're going to be with us."

"Jim!" Simon's voice cracked sharply. "There are dozens of _actual_ soldiers here!"

"But they're all Sentinels," Race said, stepping between them. "And if Zin uses that sound weapon again, all the Sentinels will be out of commission. We can't take the risk that anybody with the spirit animal group will lose their heads and start screaming and give away our position. Jim and Ngama are enough of a risk."

Simon's face was murderous. Joel put a hand on his shoulder and spoke quietly into his ear.

But Jim looked steadily at Daryl who was nodding, his face calm and his eyes serious. "He's right. Jessie and Daryl need to provide cover-fire and support for Ngama just like you guys will for me. I know how good you are. I'm trusting you to watch our backs and handle things if something goes wrong with one of us."

"And me," Kaimi said. She stuck out her chin stubbornly. "You need me, and you know it. I'm not leaving my tribe or my Sentinel. Plus, I'm the only one with a spirit animal that flies. We've never tested the spirit animals to see if they can jump to any ridiculous height, but if they can't, I bet I'll be a lot faster than any of you three at taking down a spider-bot and getting to the next one."

Jim wanted to argue, but couldn't come up with anything in the face of her stubbornness and the truth of her statement. So he turned to the last card he had left to play. "Chief, I want you to – "

Blair actually spun around and shoved at Jim's chest, cutting him off. "If the next words out of your mouth were going to be _anything_ other than 'Stay by my side and help me deal with this,' Ellison, so help me I will zone you myself and lock you in a closet while Ngama and Kaimi and I handle this!"

Jim blinked. "You –"

"Zin killed our Sentinels, Jim. He killed Ivanna. He's taken the Quests." Blair's voice shook but it had never sounded so strong. "I am _not_ going to run and hide and leave you to his robots alone. There's _no way_." He looked away. "I'm _not_ losing you, Jim. I'm staying here and we do this together and that's _final_."

The Sentinel in Jim might be raging at the threat to the Guide, but Jim Ellison the man looked at his best friend and couldn't help but smile. "Okay, partner. You got it."

Blair saw the acceptance but refused to rise to the amusement, though he couldn't quite keep the barest twitch of pleasure out of his growl. "You're _damn_ right I do."

-==OOO==-

Doctor Zin entered the lab, his eyes moving to the twitching form on the nearest cot.

"Your timing is impeccable as always, master," Samuels said, rising. He nodded deferentially to Zin as well as his daughters who followed silently in his wake. "He has just started coming around."

Zin waved him off. "Have you tested his responses yet?"

"No, sir."

"Very good. You will leave us," Zin waved a hand. "We will test the boy ourselves."

He barely waited until the man had done as requested before he was standing at the bedside of Jonny Quest. He glanced sharply at his daughters and they nodded at his wordless question. Yes, they were ready to monitor him for any possible trickery.

Jonny's eyes opened slowly. The pupils were tiny pinpricks at first, then they dilated rapidly as consciousness began to flood into his mind.

"Do you know who you are?" Doctor Zin asked.

Quest turned to him, face blank. "I am Jonny Quest."

"And whom do you serve, Jonny Quest?" As he asked the question, Anaya focused her vision on him to monitor any small changes to his expression while Melana listened to his heart-beat and scented the air for sweat.

"I serve you, Master Zin."

Zin looked to his daughters. After a moment, Melana nodded. "No change, father. He is sincere."

Zin smiled broadly with delight. "Excellent! Then, Jonny Quest, I ask you to join us!"

"Of course, master," Jonny replied. He rose carefully, tipping sideways for a moment before regaining his balance. No one moved to help him and he did not seem to expect it. If he was pale, and if there was a slight shallowness to his breathing, the Zin daughters didn't see any reason to point it out. Several subjects had suffered far more after the procedure than this.

"What do you know of me, boy?" Zin asked as they left the room and headed down a hall.

Jonny answered without breaking stride. "Yours is the will I follow. Yours is the wisdom to lead all who pledge themselves to you. I was a son of your enemy, but you have forgiven me this transgression. I will spend a lifetime repaying that mercy. I am your hands and feet and eyes and ears."

Doctor Zin actually patted the boy on the shoulder. "Very good, indeed. And if I ordered you to break a law or betray a former friend?"

"I go where your hand directs me, master."

"And if I ordered you to kill your former father?"

"I obey you in all things, master."

"Superb! We will do that, of course. But not yet. First, we must show your father where your true loyalty lies."

A guard opened a door, revealing a room that was totally innocuous; it could have been any office, any conference room, though it was devoid of furniture and windows. However, the floor had been lined with sheet-plastic, and the ceiling tiles had been removed to reveal the bare fixtures and pipes and supports hanging overhead. From a heavy metal beam above the center of the room hung a pair of thin, silvery chains.

Dangling from those chains was Benton Quest.

"Jonny!" he cried, startled at the sudden appearance of the Zins and his son. He tried to shift his weight – the manacles held him so that he could not reach the ground except by standing on the balls of his feet – and only succeeded in losing his balance entirely, which set him to swinging slightly while the cuffs bit harshly into his wrists and his shoulders were wrenched.

"Greet your father, Jonny," Doctor Zin invited.

But the face Jonny turned on Benton was cold, utterly repulsed. "Hello, Doctor Quest."

"Jonny!" Benton flailed a bit with his feet before he got situated again and rose up on his toes. "My son! Do you know me at all?"

"Oh, I know you," Jonny sneered. "I just don't care."

Benton's heart broke and his anguish was too keen to be hidden from all gathered to view it even though he tried to remain composed. "No…I won't believe it."

"Now," Zin stepped forward, "while I know well whose boy he is now, I wish you to understand beyond a doubt that you have lost your one and only child to me for all time." He leaned close to Benton's face so that his hot breath blew against his captive's cheeks. "Let me show you what defeat truly means."

Anaya handed Jonny a thick strap.

"How many, master?" Jonny asked.

"For now? Let us begin with four. But rather than counting, Jonny, tell your father whom you hate with every strike." He stepped back, crossing his arms and cocking his head with avarice in his eyes.

Jonny moved around behind Benton.

"Please, son. You have to be stronger than this. You can't let him take away your mind!" Benton pleaded, twisting slightly to try to see his son's face. "You're my son. Please don't let Zin destroy our family."

Jonny hefted the strap for a moment. Then he swung it in a broad arc, bringing it down across Benton's shoulder with all his might.

"Race Bannon," he said with a sinister smile.

"Oh, god, no," Benton begged, tears springing to his eyes at the unexpected pain – and the far deeper pain.

Jonny struck again. "Jessie Bannon."

"…Don't become what they want," Benton gasped wetly. "Please, Jonny…"

Jonny struck again. "Hadji Singh."

Benton cried out wordlessly, burying his face as best he could against an arm.

"And you, Doctor Quest." The last strike was harder than all the rest and tore a hole in the back of Benton's jacket while the chained man howled.

Jonny tipped his head to the side. "I smell blood."

"Then it is time to stop," Zin's face was lit with unholy glee. "If you are good and obey me well, I will allow you to continue another time."

Jonny moved back around to the front, never so much as flicking a glance at his father. He handed the strap to Zin and bowed. "I thank you, master."

"Anaya, Melana," Doctor Zin ordered, "take Jonny to get acquainted with our operation. I have an important mission for him."

"Yes, father," they chorused and left the room.

When the door shut behind them, Zin approached his enemy. He reached out and ran his long fingers over Benton's face, forcing him to turn so their eyes could meet.

"I must thank you," he said, certain he had never touched anything as lovely as the sweat and tears of Benton Quest who hung helpless in his grasp.

"W…why?" Quest managed around breathing that might have been crying in a lesser man.

"Were it not for you, I would never have learned about Sentinels," he said. "Can you believe that I did not know what even my own daughters were capable of? But when I received word a few years ago that you were to be sold by that little Wellmen operation, it made me curious. And once I learned what hidden truths had been kept from me even in my own homeland, I knew you had stumbled upon the find of a lifetime. It took only minimal effort for me to utilize my own resources before I realized the potential."

The horror in Quest's eyes, now that he clearly understood that all that was to come would be his fault, was beautiful.

"While you built your little getaway in the mountains of Cascade, I began the workings of an empire. And a few of my alliances gave me untold insight."

"S…sunshine. And Miss Yi," Benton said raggedly.

"Of course. Did you never wonder why Wellmen never bothered you after the first? Samuels's little operation was easily folded into my own, and then we were far too busy acquiring Sentinels by any means necessary and uncovering precisely what could be done with them to bother with you for a time. Can you imagine how many nations were happy to quietly arrange for some of their more volatile chattel to be bought at premium prices? To say nothing of a delightful little formula you yourself provided me."

Benton gasped. "You didn't! You didn't use that on people!"

"Of course I did," Zin's smile widened. "Beginning with my own daughters. Unfortunately, it is only permanently effective in about fifteen-percent of cases – all others result in an eventual failure of the Sentinel abilities or madness. Still, it was a potent means to fill out our ranks with those born to greatness. However, such nature can only be controlled with an iron fist. Or, as you have seen, a superior mindset."

"You…you bought people who needed real help, or drugged them to force a change on them…and brainwashed them. Why?"

"To forge an army, of course," Zin traced a line of sweat down Quest's neck. "But the best is yet to come."

He stepped back, regretfully. "And when I am victorious, I will parade my winnings past you so they all can see my triumph and your failure."

"You're…not going to…kill me?"

"Oh, someday I will," Zin smiled. "But not until I have taught you suffering beyond anything you've ever imagined. I will burn you and break you and drag you through every hell I can conceive for you. Only when there is nothing more to hurt you, then I will kill you."

He turned to go, but turned back. "And only then will I kill your son, too."

Doctor Zin left Quest swinging and savored the agonized cry that echoed all the way down the hall.


	10. Chapter 10

There's a lengthy flashback in this chapter which I marked but didn't put all in Italics because that would drive all of us nuts.

Thanks for sticking with me so far. I hope as we go you are glad you did. Or you want to strangle me more. One of the two, I guess.

Enjoy!

* * *

Jim watched the last of his tribe file into the hidden bunker. It had taken every ounce of his force of will and authority and yelling to enforce the decision for most Sentinels to hide rather than fight. He could sympathize. _Sentinels protect the tribe. That's what we're for_.

In the end, he'd picked a few others – some of the best fighters and keenest shots – to help support the four who would be focused on their spirit animals. Maxim would be leading a small force whose whole purpose was to monitor the position of all the robots and distract any that got too close to the place the main group would be making their stand. Already he had led his team from the building through a sealed underground tunnel to the barn, where they would set up in the cupola on the roof.

Maxim's team knew that the sonic weapon might render them utterly helpless and that it could cost them their lives. That was why they'd agreed to be posted to the secondary location in the barn rather than supporting Jim's spot directly; they weren't afraid to die, but they would not risk compromising the group who had the best chance of bringing the robots down.

Jim had also seen Maxim's eyes flick to Blair and Kaimi, and he guessed that as much as the old soldier didn't want to endanger the mission or Jim, he could even less stand to put the Guides in danger. Jim could _completely_ understand that feeling.

The last set to retreat to the bunker included Angie and Melly, Rafe and Brown, and Doctor Waihee. They would remain just outside the door to come running if needed. Leilani had not been in the original plan, as she was no trained soldier, but that tiny woman had made even Jim step back with the force of her conviction. If her daughter was going to risk her life on the surface, Leilani would be ready to run to them if she or anyone else got hurt. She had entrusted her patients to Eric, Lai, and those Sentinels with at least a modicum of medical training.

Jim was pretty sure Leilani wouldn't have agreed to Kaimi's participation at all except that, first, it wasn't _really_ her decision, and second, she'd been outnumbered. Simon had been trapped in a similar position. Jim hoped he was never on the other end of the convincing, coordinated pleading force that was Sandburg, Kaimi, Jessie, and Daryl; their combined effort was like a hurricane of logic, conviction, and inexorable will. Only Ngama had abstained from staking out an argument, sharing a knowing look with Jim.

 _If there were any other way, he'd be locking Kaimi in there with them. And Sandburg would be right beside her. I don't care what Sandburg says about Guides protecting Sentinels. We protect them first_.

The tribe of Sentinels, upon learning that two of their remaining three Guides would be up in the thick of danger, had very nearly revolted. Even Jim hadn't been able to prevent the surge of protectiveness that he totally shared but was forcing himself to ignore for now. Because any time his thoughts even started to turn in that direction, Blair seemed uncannily aware of it, turning to his Sentinel and levying a fierce glare. Jim couldn't come up with any way to order his Guide to safety without undermining their very real need for his prowess with his spirit animal, not to mention Blair's own courage and dedication. Still, as they began their ascent to their post, he walked a step behind Blair and listened to the rapid heart-beat that mattered more than any other – and vowed he would do _anything_ to protect it.

"Me, too, Jim," Blair said softly.

"How do you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?"

"Know what I'm thinking and feeling even if I'm not saying it and you're not even looking at me?"

Blair shrugged. "I just do. Combination of Ellison predictability and sort of the territory that goes with being a bonded Guide, I guess."

Jim might have wondered that Sandburg wasn't leaping to explain more than that, or at least promise to test it later, but he could almost feel the focused tension radiating from his Guide. Blair's mind was not zipping about between his myriad projects and theories and that encyclopedic knowledge – it was bent on a single moment in time and a single task.

 _Better get your head in the game too, Ellison_.

At the top of the stairs, he pushed open the door to the roof of the new wing of the lodge. Not only was there a tiny emergency hatch that led to a ladder straight down into the bunker, but there was an addition he had requested when he'd been asked about a design for the building. Something he hadn't ever thought he'd need to use, but here they were. _Can't account for everything. Giant spider robots were never even on my radar_ , he thought.

Jim pushed open the door to the hide site. It looked like an air-conditioning unit on the roof, identical to every other like it on every building in the complex, complete with a big fan on one side and vents. But on the inside, it was an open space where every vent was just large enough for a rifle to poke out unencumbered. Also, while it looked like it was built of nothing but flimsy sheet-metal, it was reinforced with the best material the Quest resources could buy, and only somewhat less impervious than the bunker below ground.

"All right, people," he said. "Spread out. You know what to do."

Joel moved to the largest opening, one of the gaps between the fan-blades. He shouldered the grenade launcher that had been entrusted to him. "Daryl, I want you right there," he said, gesturing with an elbow to a spot clear of the recoil but within easy reach. "Keep your eyes open. I know you don't know how to load this thing, so just be ready with the next one when I need it."

Daryl nodded and crouched beside Joel with the box of grenades.

Simon, Race, and Jessie spread out as they checked their own weapons. None of the three was nearly as good as a sniper as Jim, but Jim wouldn't have time to shoot while working with his spirit animal. While Joel's job was to try to blow the legs off those robots and bring some of them to the ground that way, the other three would focus on trying to shoot out the robots' optics. It might slow them down.

Jim wanted _so badly_ to pull Blair to his side, maybe even sit on him to keep him safe. But there were only the four of them and four directions to watch. The last intelligence from IRIS had suggested the crowd of spider robots had broken up to surround them. He could hear them now, shuffling through the forest and closing in on all sides.

Blair moved resolutely to face out in the same direction as Joel and Jim opted to take the side to his left – that way he could dive for him if he saw something inbound. Ngama put himself opposite Jim, so Kaimi finished their formation with her back to Blair. Jim noted that Jessie put herself beside him, and he nodded in approval. Simon went with Kaimi – which matched the only flying spirit animal with the other most experienced sniper – and Race took up a position beside Ngama.

"Let them get within normal sight of the lodge before you hit them with the spirit animals," Jim said. "And even closer before you start firing. We don't want to give away our position until the last possible moment."

"Remember," Kaimi said softly, "you can't just dive through it. You have to exert will when you're inside it first. Enough to fry the machine, but not enough to fry you."

"Daryl," Race got his attention, "you're closest to the emergency hatch. If we give the word, tear it open and start climbing down. Move as fast as you can so we can all pile in after you. The shaft is too narrow for more than one at a time, but it's reinforced, so you'll be safe as soon as you get inside. I'll be last man out."

Jim was going to argue, but a shiver ran through him like an icy wind. He turned and looked outwards, dialing up his vision to pierce through the overcast dimness and the dense trees.

"Incoming," he reported sharply. "Everybody get ready."

The only answer from the others was a grim silence followed by the slide-click of the sniper rifles loading and the low whir of the grenade launcher.

 _These things are going down. This is my territory. My tribe. And if anybody gets so much as a scratch from these ugly cannonballs on legs, I'll take them apart. And then I'll take Zin apart, too. Bit by bit. That's a promise._

He felt more than heard the jaguar scream. It was answered by a guttural, low bark from Ngama's honey badger, a shrieking cry from Kaimi's albatross, and a near-deafening growl from Blair's wolf.

The first spider-bot poked up out of the trees and Jim threw himself into the battle.

-==OOO==-

Lee Brackett let his gaze roam over the room as he listened to the older Samuels brother drone on; he'd filched a copy of Samuels's report before the man could print it off, so he already knew what would be said. It made for the only safe time for his mind to wander.

 _I remember O'Rourke told me once after that thing in Morocco, 'There's a reason sharks outlived the dinosaurs – not only did they learn to eat us and scare us out of the water, they never hesitated to eat each other. Even the biggest, meanest, toughest shark in the world knows they're just one wrong turn away from being somebody else's prey.' And he was right. He didn't get killed by the authorities. He was gunned down by his own people. I wonder what he'd make of the sharks I'm swimming with now_.

Seated on a chair somewhat up and apart from the rest of the room, was Doctor Zin. His sharp eyes seemed to miss nothing as he looked from one of his people to another. By his side, as always, stood his daughters, utterly implacable. Only months of practice allowed Brackett to tell them apart. Today it was Melana who tipped her head ever so slightly – the posture of a listening Sentinel. They switched on and off between which was stretching her senses and which was remaining present to prevent a zone-out on the other's behalf.

 _They hide it pretty well, but they're still not as good as Ellison. I warned them not to waste time with anything but getting ahold of Sandburg or Quest or Singh and their training techniques. Now we're stuck with a crowd of Sentinels who can count the spots on a bird's wing at 100 yards but can't keep themselves from drooling while they do it_ , he thought snidely.

Standing around the room with himself were the Samuels brothers, a few trusted non-Sentinel Zin-affiliated goons, and some of the people acquired along with Wellmen Global. A computer on the side of the room connected the meeting with shadowy players in sensitive positions across a couple of different nations – all individuals Brackett had identified long before signing on with the Zins and had determined were more motivated by cash than loyalty. Dangerous to have as enemies, but possibly buyable as allies if he needed it. Tellingly, the only other Sentinel in the room besides the Zin sisters was Jonny Quest, standing at Melana's side and staring forward blankly.

 _Because all the Sentinels of Zin's oh-so-precious Mongolian heritage are either too dumb to be of any use or had to be brainwashed so hard they're no better than dogs trained to obey. The look on Quest's face suggests he's as gone as the rest of them. They all react correctly when they're given orders, and they even have the corresponding facial expression. But leave them on their own and they just stare at the wall and wait for orders. Too bad. We'd be in a lot stronger position if we had some willing participants who weren't either blindingly stupid or too blood-thirsty to be of use. But Zin won't let anybody in here without Mongolian heritage. Oh, right. Except for me. And Quest_.

But Quest was more like a trophy than an active participant in the plans happening around him, and Brackett knew all too well that any acceptance for himself was only by necessity. He had no illusions that the Zins would kill him the instant it suited their purposes. For the amount of money they were paying in the meantime, it was an acceptable risk to take.

He glanced to Anaya. _I wonder if there would be a bonus for telling daddy dearest about his daughter's unique interpretation of his orders regarding Hadji Singh. But then, even if there was a reward, she or her sister would probably kill me before I got out of the building. Too bad. Maybe I'll drop it in a coded mission right before I break ranks and go back to solo enterprise_.

It was a delicate game, and a thrilling one. At any moment, the Zins could turn on him. And at any moment, he could take his money and flee, even turning them over to their enemies in the process. But for now, with the narrowest of margins, it was in the interest of both sides to play along pretending that Brackett was as loyal as the Samuels brothers. For the Samuels, their loyalty was partly bought with money and partly through terror. But Brackett wasn't afraid of Doctor Zin. And so the cat-and-mouse game continued.

The older Samuels brother finally finished his report and Zin's eyes fell on Brackett. The ex-operative could feel their message: _Not yet, Brackett. You're still mine for now. And I will kill you before that changes_.

Brackett straightened his shoulders and raised his head. _Not likely, Zin_. He began his report. "The robots should be arriving at the SELF compound now. I will be receiving telemetry in a matter of minutes. But I am confident that even Quest's best inventions cannot prevent the compound's defenses from falling. And when they do, we will be prepared to deal with the survivors."

 _Too bad he wouldn't let me include the sonic weapon that was so effective against the Sentinels at the museum in the plan. But its frequency would have been transmitted on the open comm line and then most of this base would start screaming. I know Zin wants to see and hear the failure of his enemy, but it's stupid to lose the use of a foolproof method just for the sake of ego. Just more proof Zin wants to destroy Quest at any cost, even if it weakens his own strategy. I wonder what exactly Quest did to him anyway?_

As he spoke, he kept Jonny Quest in his peripheral vision. He knew that there were many different layers of the reprogramming procedure, from a very mild version that simply enforced a willing loyalty on those Sentinels Zin had purchased openly to a complete rewrite of the brain as had been required for those who had fought tooth and nail against the designs of the Zins. He surmised, obviously, that Quest had been given the most stringent programming possible to ensure his own compliance. And it must have worked, for the boy to be standing there so blankly while the Zins plotted the deaths of his friends and tribe, not to mention Zin's little display with Doctor Quest.

But still, Brackett wondered what was going on behind the empty eyes that appeared to see nothing at all.

-==OOO==-

Jonny sat up, blinking, in the indigo savannah.

"What am I doing here?" he asked aloud. He rubbed his head. "Why can't I remember?"

"I owe you a thousand apologies, my friend. And even so, you may not forgive me."

Jonny turned to see Hadji standing behind him. Sort of.

"Hadji!" Jonny scrambled to his feet. "What's going on? And why are you all…see-through?" His heart jumped into his throat. The last time he had seen his brother this way, Hadji had been dying.

"It is not that which you fear," Hadji shook his head. "Although all is not well by any definition you choose to name."

"Start talking, Hadj." Jonny crossed his arms, partly to give him a way to hold onto himself against a strange coldness growing within.

"It is necessary first that you remember our last conversation with your father."

Jonny frowned. "I can't…remember much of anything. I mean, I know you and I know me and I know this place, and I know dad, but…"

"Yes, I imagine the specifics have been lost to you. But I believe I can fix that, if you trust in me, Sentinel."

"Always," Jonny nodded. "Always, my brother."

The ghostly shape of Hadji moved forward and placed his hands on top of Jonny's head.

There was a flash of warmth.

-==OOO==-

-==OOO==-

-==OOO==-

In the lodge, Doctor Quest had asked to speak to his two sons alone, sending Race on ahead to meet the others outside the offices. He did not answer the curious glances of either Jonny or Hadji, but instead led them to his rooms upstairs and locked the door.

"IRIS, initiate total sonic isolation, please," Benton said.

"Working. Complete. The room is secure."

"What is it, dad?" Jonny frowned at the buzz of the white noise generators and other things embedded in the walls so thickly he could almost feel their vibrations. "What's bad enough you can't risk anybody hearing it?"

Benton gestured to the couch and Jonny sat, Hadji tight at his side. Benton actually moved to perch on the coffee table before them, almost knee-to-knee with them. When his gaze met the boys', they saw weariness warring with blazing anger in the depths of his heart.

"I never wished to be a Sentinel as badly as I do today," he began. "Because it means the only person I can turn to is you, son, and it's the one thing I just don't want to do."

Jonny could smell a sudden tanginess of salt in the air and spoke before that scent became shed tears from his unconquerable father. "Whatever you need, dad, you know I'll do it."

"I know you will, and that almost makes it worse."

"Please, father," Hadji spoke softly. "Tell us your plan."

Benton pulled himself together with a visible act of will. "It's a fairly simple strategy. We absolutely need to find some way of discovering Zin's plans. We can't afford to let him launch another strike, and I'm not losing anybody else," his eyes flashed with fury. Then he took a deep breath. "Race and Jim and Fritz and I have been over and over every idea. But the reality is that, even when we find Zin, we can't just infiltrate. We have to assume he has Sentinels on his side, plus Brackett. And we all know a cyber-attack won't work."

Jonny and Hadji nodded.

Then Hadji's quick mind caught up. "So, if we cannot send in someone to gather intelligence covertly, we must do it openly. But not just anyone. Someone who would be in a position to actually learn Zin's plans directly, either by Sentinel senses, computer access, or being outright told."

"But there's no way Zin would trust anybody," Jonny frowned. "He'll be looking for exactly that."

"So we must give him something more interesting to think about," Benton let out a heavy breath. "Something he finds so delicious he may be distracted and our agent will penetrate his designs."

"Even were you to go yourself, Doctor Quest," Hadji said, "while you might prove to be the carrot to lead Zin about, there is no possibility you would maintain your liberty to make use of it, nor would he trust any such overture."

Jonny's eyes widened. "Unless Zin felt absolutely sure he could control you, and he can't. But he _could_ control _me_."

Benton caught the sudden inhale of breath that heralded Hadji's legitimate objections, so he spoke quickly over them. "Zin believes that his brainwashing is absolute and complete. And if it weren't for the power of a Guide, he'd be right. But a bonded Sentinel might be able to resist the influence, or else be lifted from it with the concentrated effort of a skilled Guide."

"You are suggesting that Jonny surrender himself to Zin, allow himself to be brainwashed, and trust in the utterly unproven theory that I will be able to protect him?" Hadji recoiled.

"I don't like it any more than you do," Benton admitted fiercely. "Do you really think I want to send either of you into danger? Into the hands of a man who would be vastly improved if he possessed the scruples of a fecal fungus? But the truth is that Zin wanted us for some reason when he had Kincaid make those demands at the museum. I believe it is this one –he wanted to get his hands on Jonny and brainwash him and force me to watch. What greater triumph could he realize but to turn my own child against me?"

"And he'd be so sure of the programming, he wouldn't even suspect that I was acting," Jonny said. "It could work."

"Or everything could give you away!" Hadji protested. "Can you maintain all your bodily signals in the presence of other Sentinels to keep them from realizing your illusion? Can you shield yourself from the manipulation without alerting anyone through something you do not control such as your heart-rate?"

"I can't," Jonny turned fully to his Guide. "But _you_ could. Through me."

"Jonny's right, Hadji," Benton said. "The powers of your bond are still largely untested and totally limitless. I believe, just as you and the other Guides were able to act while two of you were fully unconscious and drugged and wounded, you would be able to impose your mind in Jonny's, protecting his cover and even helping him control his body."

At that, Hadji paused. He thought for a long moment. "…Perhaps. It would not be the first time I have used my own ability to control my body to aid Jonny in managing his wayward senses."

"Wait, what? What do you mean it wouldn't be the first time? When did you do that?" Jonny cried, totally surprised.

"I have attempted it many times in little ways," Hadji acknowledged a bit sheepishly. "I find it a useful practice while continuing to hone my skills in the astral and explore our connection in greater detail."

"We _so_ need to have a talk, Hadj!" Jonny glared at his brother.

"Anyway," Benton brought them back to the matter at hand. "If I could think of _any_ other way, believe me, I would. We need to get intelligence about what Zin is planning before it happens if we're going to have any chance of stopping him. We just can't spy on him because there's no way to do it he can't detect. So we have to pick a method he has no capacity to imagine. And the bond between you two is so far out of his league it isn't even in the same sport."

"As a pure thought exercise, the idea has merit," Hadji took a deep breath and tried to regain his detached outlook as he considered things carefully. "It would require all three of us to be within Zin's control, of course. Jonny as the lure, you at whom to gloat, and I as the touchstone to reality. Therefore, the next time the opportunity presents itself, we would have to trick Zin into accepting our surrender without suspecting it was our intention all along."

"Yeah, I guessed that part," Jonny nodded. "And we'd all be in some pretty deep danger. If not from Zin himself, then from whatever he'd have me doing. And don't forget his Sentinel daughters and their weird thing about acquiring a Guide. Plus whatever trying to protect me would do to you." He looked at his Guide. "I wouldn't be able to anchor you in the Seventh."

Hadji shook his head. "No. But I think, to your great chagrin, I have proved admirable at acting without that safety if necessary."

"There's one more thing," Benton forestalled the recurring argument he could read growing in Jonny's face. When they both looked at him, Benton sighed again. "If we did this, we'd have to go in without anybody else knowing about it."

"Why?" Jonny asked.

"Do you not recall the last time the Council attempted to act without full transparency?" Hadji added.

"This is different," Benton declared. "That was coming between a Sentinel and a Guide. This…this is a family thing."

"The lines between family and tribe are growing ever thinner, Doctor Quest," Hadji pointed out.

"And what about Race and Jessie? They're family!" Jonny defended them.

Benton leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, gazing at his clasped hands.

"You're not wrong, either of you. But…Zin has already taken so much. He and Brackett have killed members of our tribe, our family, without hesitation. He…he took your mother from me, Jonny. He's spent a lifetime trying to kill you both and anyone in his way. This…this is personal. And…"

He looked up, face pale, eyes glittering with too many emotions to name. "I won't, I _can't_ put anyone else at risk. Zin has been my problem from the beginning, and every time someone else gets involved, they get hurt. I…I can't let him take Race or Jessie or any of the tribe. I'd go alone if I thought it would do any good."

"No, dad," Jonny seized his father's forearms in a tight grip. "No _way_."

"If I thought surrendering to Zin would spare all your lives and prevent whatever he is attempting to accomplish, yes, son. I'd do it in a heartbeat."

Jonny read the conviction in his father's face and understood. He let out a breath and nodded. "Yeah, so would I."

"But we must stop him, not simply sacrifice ourselves to him," Hadji said deliberately. "He might kill you, Doctor Quest, but he would continue his madness and the tribe and the world would still be in danger."

"Yes, precisely," Benton looked at his boys, his noble, courageous men. "If I have to risk everything, I'm not bringing anyone I don't absolutely need into that fate with me."

"Race is going to kill you himself when he finds out," Jonny's face quirked in a slight smile.

"And Jessie will kill us all," Hadji answered. They exchanged a knowing glance alight with the closeness they had carried between them since childhood.

But Benton's will broke in the face of that confident, willing loyalty. _What in the world could I have ever done in this life or any other to deserve sons like these_? He reached forward and put an arm around each of them, half hauling them off the couch to crush them against him.

"I wouldn't bring you at all if I could help it," he said shakily. "But this is bigger than any of us, bigger than any of our individual lives. I wish it were anyone else I could trust so I could protect you and spare you this, but only a Sentinel who can go through the brainwashing process and emerge unscathed can penetrate Zin's security. Only a Guide can do that."

"You're wrong," Jonny shook his head, wrapping his arms around his father and brother. "There _isn't_ another Guide who can do it. Blair's good, but not that good. And Jim wouldn't be tasty bait for Zin anyway. Neither would Kaimi and Ngama. It _has_ to be Hadji and me."

"And for that, I am so, so sorry, my sons." Benton tipped his head to press against the familiar turban with one cheek and the fine blond hair with the other. "I am asking you to walk into the greatest danger of your lives with only the barest hope that any of us will survive. Now I know how Abraham felt when he had to sacrifice up his only son in the name of his belief. I might very well be putting you both on the altar and slaying you myself in my attempt to serve the world the only way I know how."

"But unlike Isaac," Hadji said softly, "we do not go in ignorance of our purpose or our fate. If we can ensure the safety of our tribe and possibly the world by this desperate act, we would accept it without regret. Indeed, I believe we have been hurtling towards this moment from the beginning. Why else should Jonny be a Sentinel, and I his Guide with an unusual affiliation for this very task? Perhaps this service to the world is precisely where our final destiny lies."

"A final confrontation. A final trick. And maybe we bring Zin down, once and for all," Jonny squeezed his brother a little more tightly.

"We'll try," Benton said, drawing back just far enough to see the faces of his sons. "God forgive me, and I pray you do, too, if we fail. But we _have_ to try."

-==OOO==-

-==OOO==-

-==OOO==-

Jonny swallowed tightly. "Oh god. We…we gave ourselves up to the robots. And Zin was there. And I remember that room and the helmet and…"

"Easy, my friend," Hadji's voice held Jonny up even if his hands were insubstantial. "You must remain calm or this will be much, much harder."

"But…Zin brainwashed me! I mean, I'm here, right? I'm just like Dmitri!"

" _No you are not_." The words stung like a slap. "I would never allow that, Jonny. _Never_."

"Then what happened?"

The image of Hadji faded a bit more, his expression folding into one of sorrow. "It…has taken me more than you might suspect to bring you to this much awareness. For a very short time, you were truly Zin's creature."

Jonny felt something sickening crawl up from his stomach. "What did I do?"

"You? Nothing." But Hadji looked away.

"You can tell me," Jonny offered. Then, more quietly, "You _have_ to tell me, Hadji."

Hadji nodded but he did not look up. "I was able to hide your spirit to keep Zin from gaining command over it. But I was not immediately able to free you from the extensive changes wrought to your consciousness by the combination of drugs and programming. I could have kept your body from waking entirely to give myself more time, but it could have alerted Zin to our plan."

"So what did you do?"

Hadji's voice became thin, alarmingly soft and almost feeble. "As I once transferred a spirit guardian creature from Ngama's mind to myself, I was able to transfer enough of myself to you to fool Zin."

"You…possessed my body?" Jonny gaped.

"In a manner of speaking. The division between us is small to begin with, and just as you can see through my eyes when you stand guard at the Seventh Door, so did I push through to you to maintain the illusion that all had transpired as Zin expected."

Jonny knew that wasn't it. "I can tell that isn't what's bothering you. So what's really wrong?"

"First, I have harmed our father. In Zin's name, I have participated in his torture knowingly and willingly."

"Not _willingly_ ," Jonny said vehemently. "You might not have had a choice, but it wasn't willing."

"Semantics," Hadji shook his head. "But more importantly is this."

The savannah began to dissolve.

"I cannot continue it, Jonny. It has taken much of the last of my energy to bring you even to here. I will send you to your body in full and free you from Zin completely, but…"

"But what, Hadji?!" Jonny yelled. He couldn't even see his Guide anymore.

"But I believe I have extended myself beyond the Seventh Door too far as Bai Ming once warned. Wake me if you can when you have the chance, Jonny Quest, because when you leave here and arrive in yourself, I will not follow you. I will not be able to help you as I had promised."

"Where will you be?"

The voice that trickled back was as soft and plaintive and thin as a baby bird's first heartbeat.

" _Lost. I have become…lost_."

And Jonny found himself staring into the face of Doctor Zin.

-==OOO==-

Blair was beyond exhausted. He stood bracing both hands against the sharp metal slats of the false vent, his knees trembling. But he never looked away from the task before him.

About twenty of the robots littered the ground around the lodge. Of those not wiped out before getting that far, some had arrived on legs made unsteady by the unfriendly perimeter, and two had gone down when Joel was able to blast off a limb entirely. But even immobilized, they could still shoot until one of the Guides fried them. Blair himself had taken out six or seven – he had lost track.

It got easier with each try. The first robot he'd disabled had given him the beginning flash of a migraine, and he remembered too late what Kaimi had said about needing to monitor how much energy he demanded of his spirit animal so that he could fry the machine without frying himself. With desperate practice he'd learned to create something like a low pulse of energy that he could increase until the robot stopped moving, and the slow build-up seemed to spare him a certain amount of headache. But only a little. The snipers had had their work cut out for them, too. Blair didn't have the attention to spare to notice what they were doing, but he saw more than one of his robots bore a shattered 'eye' before he took it out.

Blair didn't need to turn to know that his fellow Sentinels and Guides were not faring much better. He could sense what he didn't look to see – that Jim was holding himself together only by stubborn sheer will, that Ngama was practically dragging his little honey badger around and using its smaller size to conserve energy whenever possible, that Kaimi had stopped swooping and diving and was more falling from one robot to the next. And yet there were still more of them coming.

The only good news so far was that there hadn't been any reappearance of that sonic weapon. But Blair was far too tired to be grateful for that small favor.

Suddenly from the other side, Race swore. Then he shouted, "They're taking aim at the barn! Hey! Maxim! Get your people clear!"

Blair turned so he could peer through a gap to see four of the remaining robots converging on the barn where Maxim's team had been doing a stellar job of keeping many of the robots occupied until the Sentinels and Guides could get to them. Their red eyes glowed ominously as they charged up a blast that, Blair now knew from observation, could level the building if they weren't brought down in time.

 _No way. No way am I letting any more of my Sentinels get hurt. There is NO WAY_!

Blair would never know he was yelling aloud as he locked his gaze on the cupola that held his tribe.

He would never remember flinging a hand towards Jim and either screaming or snarling some sort of wordless command for his Sentinel to anchor him right that instant.

He would never recall the violent passage through the Seventh Door, dragging Jim to the Step behind him with the force of his heartsick need.

In the infinite space outside time and matter and existence, Blair's will manifested with the strength of a hurricane. He didn't care about consequences. He didn't care about balance. He didn't care about wisdom. All he wanted was to tear down the soulless metal monsters that were threatening his people.

Like Zeus the ancient lightning-hurler himself, Blair lashed out with a fury that snapped through the air with an electric blast.

Three spider-bots froze and tipped over as they were overwhelmed by an EMP strong enough to penetrate their shielding from the outside. The fourth stuttered for a moment before it, too, gave way to Blair's righteous power. The entire next wave of robots fell in its wake.

Blair snapped back to himself long enough to realize he was on the ground, Jim holding him tightly, and he felt very cold.

"Guides…protect Sentinels," he managed to smile as he slid into oblivion.

-==OOO==-

Several stories below, Eric and Lai watched a shudder pass through all the Sentinels in the area. They glanced worriedly to the door where Melly and Angie stood, Melly pulled back to Angie's front as they clung to one another with Bandit squeezed in between them. The pair of girls had again focused on listening to the events occurring outside, relating them in the silence where even the non-Sentinels could have heard a pin drop.

"What happened?" Henri demanded.

"It sounds like…Blair's unconscious," Angie reported. "Jim's trying to help. And there's still robots left, but Kaimi says she and Ngama can take them."

"Are the others all right?" Luka wanted to know.

"I hear Maxim giving orders to get back to firing. So I guess so?"

Eric and Lai exchanged glances. They were doing all they could, but they were out of their depths with this. The best help they could provide was to give the Sentinels something they could protect while, of course, watching over the injured still. But both had privately made a promise to actually drill in the use of firearms if they got out of this alive. There was no way they were leaving their Chancery family alone against an army of robot spiders again.

"Hey," Lai nudged Eric in the ribs. "Look at that."

Of the wounded they had been keeping under watch, the most severe case was still Dmitri; he had been sedated when he had loudly refused to retreat to safety and had actually attempted to get out of bed to assist in the defense of the lodge before Leilani had produced the tiniest whiff of chloroform. Dmitri had passed into the bunker strapped to his gurney and insensible.

But now he seemed to be in some sort of distress. He was shaking and sweating when he had been calm only a moment before.

Eric didn't wait to see what happened next – he lifted his head to call out. "Doctor Waihee, you better take a look at this!"

She tore herself from her spot right next to Brian Rafe and the crowd of Sentinels split to let her reach her patient.

"What does it mean?" Lai asked. "Is he running a fever?"

It was Melly who spoke, her young voice rising up over the silence. "No. Something else. Something worse."

-==OOO==-

Jonny didn't panic.

Although, after a moment of genuine shock at the sudden relocation of his awareness, he found that it would have been more accurate to say that he _couldn't_ panic. Though he was awake and looking out of his own face, he felt as if he were dreaming or somehow detached from himself. His body seemed to be on auto-pilot and he didn't know where to find the off-switch.

 _Not that I want one right now_ , he thought to himself. _As soon as we flip back to 'manual,' something's going to give me away. Probably the fact that I'm outright terrified at the moment_.

At least for now he was stationary, apparently standing at attention while Zin waited for a room full of people, some of whom Jonny recognized, to clear of all but a few. He remembered what Dmitri had said when he had been under the influence of the reprogramming, that he had been able to watch himself but not intervene.

 _Is it possible I'm the same way? No. No it isn't. Hadji would never have left me without the ability to act. He wouldn't_.

His heart ached at the memory of his Guide's words – _not his last words, no way will I let those be his last words_! – and he promised himself that he would find Hadji and bring him back as soon as possible. He _would not_ lose his brother, best friend, and Guide. Never.

 _Okay. So. I'm here. I have to trust that Hadji would have left me a way back to myself. There's no way he didn't fix it so I can go ahead with the plan and get our intel and then get out of here free of Zin's control. So why don't I have control now_?

"Jonny."

Jonny's body looked up, allowing him to shift his focus. Zin was peering at him.

"Yes, master?" said Jonny's mouth – without his input.

"What can you tell us about the defenses ranged around the location in the mountains of Cascade?" Zin asked. "What will my robots find?"

To Jonny's horror, he began nonchalantly rattling off the security specs of the lodge's perimeter, carefully describing the various tricks and traps and some of the more potent firepower. Zin smiled broadly at him as he easily betrayed his father, his own tribe.

 _Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!_

 _Wait. Did that just work?_

 _I'm not…how is this possible? I just slid right by the BIG GUNS, and I'm not even mentioning the bunker. Both things I'd rather die than let Zin know._

 _Okay. Clearly I'm not completely under Zin's control. If I were, this would be worse. But Dmitri didn't have any ability to stop himself. So that means whatever Hadji did to me, he left me in control – sorta. I just gotta figure it out._

 _Hang on. Hadji knew he wouldn't be able to help me. He knew he'd be leaving me to the wolves and I'd be on my own to fool them. So maybe he made it easier for me. Kind of put my body into a trance or something. That way I wouldn't give away the game the minute I came awake here_.

"The telemetry is coming in now," said a man Jonny felt he should remember.

"Very good, Brackett."

 _Of course! I heard his voice at the museum. Okay. So, he's launched an attack at SELF? I hope everybody's ready to defend themselves_.

Brackett worked at a computer station for a few moments before a projector lit up with a scene obviously filmed by one of the attacking robots in a vast crowd of them advancing on the outer perimeter – Jonny could see the edge of the familiar metal casing. Over the next few minutes, he watched in awe and wonder as the robots that had given his family fits for years fell again and again.

"I demand an explanation!" Zin raged.

"They look like they're being brought down by an electromagnetic pulse, father," Melana said.

"They're shielded against that," Anaya replied.

"Clearly Doctor Quest has designed a new method of delivering an EMP," Zin growled, curling his hands into fists. "One to which we are vulnerable."

 _Way to go team_! Jonny rejoiced. _I don't know what you did, but I have a good feeling it's more of the Sixth and Seventh stuff Zin wouldn't understand even if Jim's jaguar showed up and sat on him_.

A set of the robots had crowded around the barn, where Jonny could clearly see there were Sentinels taking shots at them from the cupola, but before the spider-bots could strike, the screen flashed white and the signal went dead.

"Well, that was a catastrophic failure," Brackett commented lightly.

For a moment, Jonny thought for sure Zin was going to order him killed, but he simply waved a hand. "So it seems. Therefore, we must turn to our final plan. If I cannot take Quest's Sentinels for my own army by force, I will take them by guile. Sentinels are, in certain ways, quite foolish, particularly those who have joined with Quest. They will very willingly hand themselves to me if the correct…pressure is applied."

"Master," said the man Samuels Jonny still thought of as 'Sunshine,' "is it truly necessary to acquire all the Sentinels of Cascade? You already command so many."

"You're a fool," Zin glared at him. "Why would I acquire this facility and waste time bringing all my own Sentinels here if not to ensure that I would be able to control the prisoners long enough to bring them all under my power? If I do not take the Quest Sentinels for my own as I did Jonny, there will be a force that could oppose me. With the Sentinels of Cascade as my own, I will have an army that can bring the world to its knees at my whim. What secret would be safe, what facility impenetrable, with so many to obey me?"

Samuels did not back down, though he swallowed thickly. "But there are many more Sentinels in the world, master. We have their files. We could acquire thousands quietly. Why are these so important?"

"Because," Jonny realized he was answering. "The Sentinels of Cascade are superior."

Zin smiled, though Anaya and Melana were clearly frowning at him. "Precisely, my boy. Even my own daughters do not have half the command of their senses that you do. We must acquire them all and then turn that knowledge upon my current, weaker Sentinels. Only then will we pursue the rest of the world's Sentinels. What good would an army of thousands be if Quest's paltry few hundred could disable them all and march on unaffected?"

 _So that's what it's all about_ , Jonny's mind raced. _He wants to get the tribe all brainwashed so he can train his own little army how to be better Sentinels. And they have files on thousands more? I can't imagine the world surviving an army of Sentinels with good sensory training working for Zin. He could blackmail or topple governments, steal anything he wanted, even send some Sentinels back to where they came from and use them to spy and infiltrate. I can't let him do that_. _I've got to get out of here with dad and Hadji and warn the others!_

"Anaya, Melana, and Brackett. Go to Cascade. Secure the means by which those obstinate Sentinels will bow to me or see their territory ruined. Alert me the moment you have completed your task so I can send my demands. I want those Sentinels on their way to me before another day passes."

"Very well," Anaya nodded.

The meeting started to break up, Jonny's body falling into step behind Zin.

 _I've got to figure out how to get control back and soon_!

"What do you wish of me, master?" Jonny's body asked.

"You will begin to share all the secrets of your knowledge with Samuels," Zin answered. "I want you to ensure that we can train our Sentinels as well as your father's in all things."

"Yes, sir."

 _Never gonna happen, Zin. There's no way I'm teaching you about dials and the Sixth and Seventh and bonding with Guides and how Sentinels that get tested by their spirit animals acquire better control and broader ranges and…_

 _That's it! The spirit animals_!

As if summoned, the fox appeared to Jonny, walking calmly along beside him.

 _Hadji wouldn't have left me without a way out. But we've been through Sentinel sickness together. He'd remember how foxball kind of initiated a restart of my brain every time my instincts went haywire. I bet all I have to do is ask the fox to jump into me and I'll be back in business_!

The fox peered at Jonny with a winking, intelligent eye.

 _No, not yet. Wait until Anaya and Melana are gone. They're the only ones Zin trusts to monitor my body. I can probably fool Sunshine and Zin at least for a little while, but not the twins. Once they're out of range, though, all bets are off. Then I'll get dad and Hadji and get out of here._

But even as he allowed himself to placidly follow along after Zin, using the fact of his body's auto-pilot to focus his attention on learning the layout and possible weaknesses of the location, he couldn't help a chill that radiated somewhere inside.

 _I hope it's not too late_.


	11. Chapter 11

Hiya all! Still with me?

A few things come together and even more fall apart. Which, really, is about what you can expect from here to the end.

Enjoy!

* * *

Dmitri didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, dangling his feet in the cool water of the little stream where he'd learned to swim and fish as a boy. The landscape was hazy, as though still shrouded in a touch of morning fog, but the sun was high in the sky. Beside him, Ivanna laughed at whatever absurd story he had been telling her as they traded the little anecdotes of their lives.

Suddenly Dmitri woke from the strange stupor that had held him. He turned and gripped his companion's shoulders tightly with hands that shook. "Ivanna?"

She smiled at him, the lines of strain and old loss vanished from her ageless face. "It is about time, my friend. I had wondered when you would truly join me here."

"My God in Heaven! Ivanna! You're…no." Dmitri's joy vanished. "It was not a dream. You are dead. _This_ is the dream."

"Yes, and an important one." She moved her hands along Dmitri's arms until she could gently get him to curl his fingers in hers.

"Ivanna…I…I cannot say how sorry…I…" Dmitri wanted to close his eyes and turn away as his voice failed him, but he dared not take his eyes from her lest she vanish.

"I know," she said softly. "I know, dear one. I hold no anger in my heart for you. I am only sorry for what was done to you, and where it has led us." She took a deep breath. "But perhaps there is good in it all yet. Not for the lives lost, but for the choice open to us now. Were I still living, I would not have known that you are needed."

Dmitri knew he should be focusing on what Ivanna was trying to tell him, but he couldn't. Instead, he reversed the grip of his hands and drew her palm to his lips to kiss it softly.

"I know, Dmitri."

"I have to say it to you," he shook his head. "I don't care if you know it already. You must let me say it if only just this once."

Ivan inclined her head.

"I love you. I have always loved you. But…I loved Ilja too, better than a brother. You made him so happy for the time that he had with us. I could not take him from your heart when he had been taken from your life. But…I always loved you, Ivanna."

"You silent Sentinels are all the same," she said fondly, her eyes wet. "You assume that because the rest of us cannot see for miles that we cannot read what is before us. Yes, dear one, I knew. I knew before you did, I imagine."

Dmitri barked a laugh. "Oh, probably."

"Can you forgive my heart that could not see you as anything but a tribe-brother to Ilja and could not return your feelings?"

"Always," Dmitri assured her. "You loved Joel, though," he pointed out.

Ivanna sighed. "I don't know if I did or not. I never will, I suppose."

"I have taken that from you too," Dmitri said in a low voice. "I am so sorry."

"Do not weep for what you have done," she said, and there was ringing strength in her tone that made him meet her eyes in surprise. "If you must weep, then weep for what is to come. The danger is great, and there is nothing I can do for it."

"But you said I had a choice. Does that mean there is something I can do?" Dmitri asked. "Is the danger more than the robots outside?"

"Much more," Ivanna nodded. "Hundreds of thousands of lives hang in the balance as well as the future of our people. And already it is a nearly impossible thing that must be borne by those who are already so tired. But unless something is done, the last hope they have of success will vanish beyond the Seventh and those who remain will fail."

"I am injured, but give me the word and I will be as a man half my age."

Ivanna shook her head. "It is not the strength of your body that is needed, but the strength of your soul."

"You know better than anyone that I am not a Guide," Dmitri said.

"No, but you are a Sentinel with a full Seventh which you can use. And, more importantly, your nature is unique in this regard."

Ivan released one of her hands from Dmitri's and swept it across the water at their knees. The ripples shimmered for a moment before resolving into a view of the battle raging at the lodge. Dmitri could see the spirit animals who battled as well as the robots and men.

"Tell me," Ivanna said. "Why is Blair a wolf? What does a wolf do that is a part of Blair's truest nature?"

Dmitri thought for a moment before he let the words pour out of him. "He…is cunning. Swift and hardy. And fierce, no matter how he's cornered or out-numbered. And…he gathers people together to hold them in a pack, I suppose. He and his mate protect their territory and their kin. He is resilient and can wander the globe if he must, but his territory and his pack are home."

"All true," Ivan nodded. "And Jim with his jaguar?"

"A silent and capable hunter. Territorial even beyond most creatures. An apex predator. Independent and untamable and powerful and ferocious."

"Now, think on some of your words. What does Blair, as a wolf, do? What does Jim, as a jaguar, do?"

"Blair…defends his territory and his pack. And Jim hunts."

Ivan touched the water again and Dmitri found himself looking at his own wild horse. "And what can a horse do, Dmitri? I know that you are noble and swift and intelligent and agile. What does a horse _do_?"

Dmitri blinked. "…Run? Live in a herd? Carry a…" He stopped. His head snapped up. "They carry someone or something else. Even a long distance. Horses are not just creatures in and of themselves. They can also transport others."

Ivanna smiled. "Precisely. You of all our brethren have within you the capacity to carry another home safely from even deep within the darkness of infinity. And that is what is needed for one who has gone too far beyond his ability to return."

"But you said it was a choice," he said, beginning to sense what all this might signify.

"Yes," Ivan did not look away from his eyes. "You are untrained, and you are not a Guide. Your Seventh is true, but weak. If you undertake this task, it will certainly kill you."

"And if I do not, how many others will suffer? No," Dmitri shook his head. "My life means nothing now. The instant I lifted a hand against you, I should have been executed by our tribe. We both know I cannot live on with that betrayal across my shoulders. I would be grateful to die in the right cause. Perhaps it would begin to atone for my failure."

"That is your perspective, right or wrong," Ivan told him, but the wariness in her eyes suggested she did not agree. "But I will say this. The soul you would save may be the difference between life and death for all we hold dear. He will never make it home without help, and there will be no time before it is too late for any other to match him in power."

"I will go. Guide me but once more, Ivanna."

She folded her large arms around him and drew him close. "Then I will send you to the spirit only you can save. Go swiftly, Sentinel. And when it is over and you pass through the Door to what waits beyond, Ilja and I will be waiting for you."

-==OOO==-

Kaimi couldn't really feel her legs anymore. For that matter, she couldn't feel much of anything. From the brain down, everything seemed numb and far away.

It _hurt_ – it seared her mind to _stretch_ one last time.

The final robot, pushing itself along with two legs like oars in the torn-up ground, swiveled its head and the red eye gleamed.

Kaimi gave a wretched howl and willed her albatross to strike just once more…

"It's all right now. It's over," came a soft voice at her temple.

Kaimi thought she must be crying for her face felt cold. She tried to touch her cheeks but her arms wouldn't move.

"I've got you," the voice said. "Hold still."

"How are they?" called another voice from somewhere in the fog.

"Blair and Jim are still out. Ngama's coming around now."

"Zoned?"

"I don't think so. Passed out, maybe."

"We'll need help to get them out of here. Damn. Just when you need a Sentinel to see if the coast is clear."

"Hey, Maxim! If you're listening, we need to know if the threat is neutralized. If it's safe, shoot as many times as you beat me in checkers that one weekend."

"Checkers?"

"It's the only game we both knew! I've taught him poker since then."

A sharp buzz echoed and Kaimi realized it was a series of gunshots.

"Geez. How many games did you play?"

"About eleven, I think. And, yeah, he won eight. The man is a wizard."

"That means the danger is over, but we still need to be careful. There's no telling what surprises Zin might have for us down there."

"Ngama! Hey, calm down, buddy. It's all right."

"…Kaimi…"

"She's here. She's right here. Your Guide's okay."

Kaimi realized her eyes were closed. She fought to open them.

The little space – Kaimi's brain had decided to think of it a Nest even though she knew that wasn't the right term for it – didn't look too bad. The metal walls had held up under the onslaught, and the truth was that most robots hadn't really gotten to within even 50 yards of the building before the spirit animals had taken them out. Jim and Blair were both stretched out on the ground, unmoving. Simon and Race stood nearby, flicking anxious glances around. Daryl and Jessie were just starting to help Ngama to his feet. He looked drawn and worn out as Kaimi had never seen.

"Think you can stand?"

Kaimi realized she was leaning almost all of her weight against Joel. He had one arm secure around her waist, holding her up against him. He had tucked both of her small hands into his large one, and she could feel that her fingers were still cramped in the claw-like shape she'd folded around her metal slats to keep herself upright.

She tried to nod and get her feet under her, but her knees refused to hold. After a moment of trembling, Joel shook his head and swept her into his arms in one smooth motion.

"Easy there, Kaimi. You did real good. Now you let me take care of things."

Kaimi was too depleted and exhausted to argue, so she just tipped her head against the warm shoulder and let go of her remaining tension.

Ngama looked up from where he was balanced between Daryl and Jessie. "Kaimi. Are you all right?"

Kaimi tried to smile. "I guess. We did it."

"That you did," Simon said softly. "The four of you did what a whole army couldn't have done."

"Kaimi…and Blair…did the real work," Ngama said. "Jim and I could only do half what they did…not counting Blair's…whatever that was."

"Okay, buster, you better rest," Jessie told him. "When you get imprecise with your language, you are dead on your feet."

Ngama didn't bother to answer.

"Rest, Kaimi," Joel told her kindly. "I've got you. You'll be safe."

Kaimi's eyes drifted closed, but she spoke almost without being aware of it.

"I know that. But…something's still wrong…

-==OOO==-

"Everybody clear away!" Leilani shouted. "I've got to try the paddles."

"We're losing him, aren't we?" Eric asked, looking fearfully at where Lai was holding Angie and Melly back from interfering with Leilani's increasingly-desperate efforts to revive Dmitri.

"No," Melly shook her head, tears coursing down her face as she clutched a whimpering Bandit to her chest. "We already lost him."

-==OOO==-

In a darkness marked only by the light of potential, of lives that had not yet come to be, the horse searched for the one who was lost.

-==OOO==-

Jonny was watching himself with increasing amusement as his body artfully rattled off the driest and most boring information he didn't even know he'd contained – all without ever giving away anything important like how to best teach Sentinels to piggy-back their senses for both increased ability and a decreased chance of zoning – when he felt a change in himself. It was subtle; if he'd been doing anything but paying attention to his surroundings, he never would have felt it. But there it was.

 _The twins are gone. I'm sure of it_.

Jonny assessed his situation. He was back in the lab with the elder Samuels brother, standing at attention and talking over the man's shoulder while he took copious notes. After an hour, Samuels wasn't even looking at him anymore.

Jonny drew his fox into sight. _Do it_.

The red fox barked a chirpy sound, its tongue lolling out of its jaws like an overly-happy dog, and dove.

Jonny felt for an instant as if his body were being squeezed through a cheese-grater. Then his ears popped and, just like that, he was back to himself. He actually blinked and flexed his fingers just to be sure. Yes, that sense of disassociation was gone. He was fully himself once more.

Cognizant that he had only moments before Samuels would finish writing out whatever the last of his words had been before he would be expecting more, Jonny moved. At least he'd had plenty of time to plan!

At a nearby table, Jonny had spied a ready set of syringes, all prepared in case a Sentinel was brought in while in immediate distress or actively resisting. Jonny grabbed for the strongest tranquilizer of the bunch and jabbed Samuels in the shoulder in one smooth motion. The man went lax before he even registered the pinch of the needle. Not wanting to sound any kind of alarm, Jonny worked in the best silence he could, rolling Samuels in his chair to a bed in the far corner and tipping him into it, lashing him down with the very restraints he had used on so many Sentinels already. There was even a ready gag to keep Sentinels from biting their tongues off that Jonny affixed in place. Lastly, he pulled the privacy curtain around the bed to completely hide the unconscious man.

That done, Jonny took care to cover his tracks. He turned off the work-light at Samuels' desk and piled things together into a rough approximation of how he'd seen the desk before, picking up Samuels' notebook and tucking it into his pocket. Then he listened carefully at the nearest door, but he could hear heart-beats and breathing. So he opted for the other door at the far end of the room. Beyond it was only silence. He found himself in a corridor that seemed mainly to be filled haphazardly with supplies.

 _Probably Sunshine never even put anything away – they weren't going to be here that long. He just opened up the pallets and used them from here. Which means somewhere…jackpot_!

Jonny reached into an open box and withdrew a small white noise generator. He flipped it on at its lowest setting, which would drown out only the area immediately around him. Now invisible to any Sentinels who might be able to listen for him, he slipped into a closet and closed his eyes.

 _I know I was supposed to get more intel on what Zin is going to do next, but with Hadj in trouble and dad hurt, I've got to get them out of here while I can. Time to find you guys_.

It took Jonny a few moments to focus his senses around the white noise before he could start seeking his family. He first honed in on his father's breathing, finding it easily by its harshness. It wasn't far off.

Jonny followed the sound into a new corridor. A pair of guards stood outside one door on the next hallway – the right one. Jonny threw back his head and mimicked the glare he'd felt himself use when watching the assault on the lodge.

"Get out of here. I'm taking over. Master's orders."

The two men glanced at one another, then back at Jonny. Whatever they saw in his attitude, or maybe in what they remembered from his first pass through must have been awful because they turned and bolted down the hall without a word. Jonny stepped into the room.

"Dad!"

His father looked up from where he hung in the chains. "Jonny! Oh, god, son. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Hadji...uh…it's a long story," Jonny scurried over to his father, appalled at the clear strain he could hear in Benton's breathing and voice. He ran his hands over his father's arms, his sense of touch picking up the bruised and swollen muscles. "What happened to you?"

"Don't you know? You…never mind," Benton shook his head. "It's not important." Then, with a flash of his usual smile, he shook himself. "It looks a lot worse than it is."

"What about your ankle?" Jonny remembered his limping from their arrival.

Benton winked. "Faked it the whole time."

Jonny grinned at his father's audacity. "I'll get you down."

It took Jonny a couple of minutes to find a chair and something with which to pick the manacles, but once he had the height and the tool, it was the work of only a few moments to undo both cuffs. Benton sagged to the ground with a groan.

"Dad, can you walk? We probably don't have a lot of time here," Jonny leaned down, assessing with every sense he possessed.

"Yeah. Just let me get some blood back in my arms and I'll be fine. Like I said, it wasn't as bad as it looked."

When he finally got shakily to his feet, Jonny concurred with his father's assessment. He wasn't in great shape, clearly, but he'd played up his fatigue and pain. His arms and legs were sore and he was bruised head-to-foot, but he was otherwise functional. And with a few minutes of walking, he was able to get his blood circulation moving again and he looked more like his old self.

"Where's Hadji?" Benton asked.

"Um…" Jonny cast out his senses again, listening, scenting, even feeling along the string that bound them that he could not begin to name. "Upstairs." Then he paused. "His heart-beat is really slow."

"He said he would be meditating beyond the Seventh Door to help you," Benton pointed out.

Jonny led the way from the room, listening past the white noise generator as best he could for any surprises around a nearby corner. "No, it's more than that. He was doing that for a while, but it was too much for him and he…"

A sharp pain brought Jonny to his knees.

"Jonny! What is it, son?"

Jonny felt a terrible truth burn through him. "It's Hadji. I'm too late."

-==OOO==-

The last of Hadji's depleted energies gave out. He had fought with every bit of power, every cultivated strength he had ever possessed, but the tides that tore at him were irresistible.

 _I am sorry, my brother. My_ _Sentinel. I have failed and now our life will end._

Hadji resigned himself to the infinite cosmos that were calling him. Even the feather he had left in Jonny's soul was not strong enough to lead him back. He was already fading into stardust and the particles of a new galaxy, his soul passing on in a last haze of profound sorrow

 _I should have liked to have stayed with you in this life._

 _And so you shall_.

Hadji might have thought it was his imagination – and here that was nowhere that would not make it any less real – but he felt gathered up, wrapped in a blanket of certainty.

 _I am here to carry you home_.

Hadji's confused consciousness took a deplorably long time to identify the presence. _Dmitri_?

 _Not for long. It does not matter. You are needed_.

 _Are you not?_

 _No. My time ends by this last act. All is as it must be. Do not weep or fear. I am at peace_.

Hadji could feel the truth of it. _Then I thank you, my friend, for my life and for Jonny's life_.

 _Thank me when you are safely on the other side of the Seventh Door, body and spirit. When all is safe. I will be sure to listen for you, and I will not be far from you all your days. None of us are_.

 _Distance is nothing to the mind_ , Hadji agreed.

 _I understand that now. I did not before. But I had never come here with a true Guide before, either_.

Hadji could feel strength returning to himself. He no longer seemed as scattered, as though the molecules of his spirit were being flung throughout creation.

 _You will recover, but you will be forever changed_ , Dmitri told him. _For as long as you wish your body to be bound to your soul in this life, you will be in danger of becoming lost once more. That which tied you to life is thin and frail now_.

 _I cannot continue without an anchor_ , Hadji realized. _I understand. I had come too close to losing myself too many times before_.

 _But you may also touch a power that few Guides have ever known. In that same ability to let go of the world lies a tremendous capacity to change it. But be wary. I will not be able to save you again._

 _I understand. I will be careful._

Hadji could see the Seventh Door. He felt the presence around him begin to dissolve.

 _Goodbye, my friend and Guide of my tribe. Strength and victory to you and all our people._

 _Goodbye, Sentinel. May you be welcomed in the light of peace and enlightenment._

Hadji opened his eyes.

Even before he was fully aware of his own body he was aware of Jonny's; his time in the body of his brother had bound them anew as he could not have imagined. He knew without question that Jonny was returned to himself, was just recovering from his close call with death, and was leading their father to him. He knew that he would always know where Jonny was, what he was doing, in a way that surpassed the physical. He would taste Jonny's concern and love like food and water, and he would be tempted to fall into such awareness to explore it on a level now open to him that beckoned like a siren's call.

"And from there I would not return," Hadji told himself firmly, standing up. "Praise be that discipline is something I practice rigorously. I believe I shall need it."

He could feel Jonny's surprise as the Sentinel picked up his words.

Hadji moved to the door of his chamber. He didn't need the Seventh to open such a simple lock – his concealed lockpicks would be more than sufficient.

"Jonny, I will meet you and Doctor Quest three floors down from your current position in the unused warehouse. There is a jeep there, and very few guards in the area. We must escape at once. I already have all the intelligence we sought, so there is no reason to delay."

Resolutely not thinking about anything – not what had happened, not what he had done, not what he now _Knew_ from spending so long beyond the Seventh he had even seen Zin's final plans fully illustrated – Hadji focused on the immediate present and prayed they were not too late.

 _Because if we fail to stop Brackett and Anaya and Melana, I do not know that any of us will survive the night_.

-==OOO==-

The DHS cavalry arrived about thirty minutes after the Sentinels of SELF called the all-clear. Their trucks roared through the broken perimeter and over the uneven ground, mounted guns at the ready while a platoon of soldiers began forming up in defensive lines.

"All dressed up and nowhere to go, huh Howitzer?" Race greeted his old friend with a tired smile.

Howard did not smile. "It shouldn't surprise you that I spent more time mobilizing reliable troops and securing the area before we actually moved in. I know most of what you and Benton have cooked up here in the last few years. I thought the locals should be kept out of the way before they witnessed whatever ridiculous thing you would be springing on them."

Simon paused in the extremely labor-intensive job of beginning to clear out the ruined robots and the debris from the battle to say, "That reminds me – how did you tap-dance around that whole thing with the giant spirit guardian when Jonny and Hadji put out the fire a few years ago? We couldn't have been the only ones who saw it." Simon was grateful for the momentary break from clean-up. It wasn't the most immediate task at hand, but there was no knowing if Zin had left any surprises behind, so they couldn't risk leaving the downed robots where they could be a threat later.

Fritz shrugged. "Actually, very few people did see it who weren't part of the forest service, and they were given the usual 'secret government national security spiel' that we give everybody and they took it seriously. After that, we just leaked an exaggerated report of it to the bottom-feeding local supermarket tabloid and when their headline came out raving about giant chicken mutants trying to destabilize the bear population, well, nobody else wanted to go public."

"I saw that issue," Henri walked up. "Joel had it at his desk for some reason."

"I framed it," Joel smiled. "And after Simon and Jim and Blair finally came clean about all this to me, I gave it to Blair for a Christmas present. He loved it."

"He still loves it," Simon nodded. "He keeps it in his room at the loft."

"Speaking of whom, where is Doctor Sandburg?" Fritz wanted to know.

"He and Jim are off resting along with Kaimi and Ngama," Race answered. "Most of this is their work."

Howard raised an eyebrow. "Want to explain that, Bannon?"

"Not really," Race shook his head. "Ask them later. Much later."

"Don't worry, I will. After the Quest system came out of lock-down, IRIS reported a few minor injuries to me along with one fatality from the attack. I'm sorry to hear about Dmitri. He was a good man." Howard meant it sincerely, and those who had worked with him for the last few years knew how rarely he offered that much praise.

"He didn't die in the attack," Henri spoke up. "Or, well, I mean, he did. But not because of it."

"We don't know what happened, exactly," Joel said softly. "Melly told the others that something had happened, but she was pretty upset. She's with Angie and Rafe for now. Everybody else is trying to clean up the mess and check for traps."

Howard glanced at the piles of twisted metal, the torn-up earth, the fragments of walls and roofing that had been blasted away in the onslaught, the many downed trees. He nodded. "We can probably help with that, with your permission."

Galina approached, Luka and Hasna beside her. She inclined her head to the agent, but turned to Simon.

"The tribe will follow us until the others are well and Doctor Quest and Jonny and Hadji return. But we wish your advice, Simon. We feel…unsettled."

Simon frowned. "What do you mean?"

"We are angry, like hornets whose nest has been kicked, but there is a greater fear in us. It is how Jim described his single encounter with the woman Alex Barnes." After having learned the story of the person who had successfully killed Blair, the tribe had never referred to her as a Sentinel again. According to them and by all they held dear, she didn't deserve the honor. "Something is encroaching on our territory. Something threatens our people."

"If you can get any more details than that, we'd love to have them," Race rubbed a hand over his hair. "Even for us, that's as murky as diving for a submarine in a bayou."

Howard was opening his mouth to say something when a sharp chirping noise filled the air.

"What is that?" Galina cringed at the piercing tone, belatedly adjusting her senses to compensate.

"It's the Quest emergency beacon!" Race exclaimed, pulling out his phone.

Another echoing beep grew nearer as Jessie raced up, her own phone in her hands and Daryl, Eric, and Lai in her wake. "It's them!"

"I know that. Give me a minute," Race snapped, peering at his phone. He began keying commands.

"It's not the normal one," Jessie explained, her own fingers flying on her phone as well. "There's a beacon in each of our phones that connects through the Quest system and can be activated any number of ways, but this is actually the backup. That means that their phones were damaged or even destroyed."

"Not quite, Ponchita," Race said. "This is the tertiary signal. The main one is activated when someone hits the panic button on virtually any piece of Quest tech. The second one goes off when certain pieces of Quest tech are destroyed. But the third one can be activated in an emergency with just a single chip from one of the phones plugged into anything with a phone line or an internet connection. It's not much more than a homing beacon, but it's active."

"Where is it?" Daryl asked.

"Oregon," Race frowned. "Astoria, I think." He enhanced the tracking screen. "Looks like a library or something."

"I can send a retrieval team. There's a Coast Guard base not far from there too," Fritz said, signaling one of his men to hurry over.

"Do it," Simon nodded.

"And get them on the fastest transport you have," Race added. "Strap them into a rescue helicopter if you have to. We need those three here now."

"How do you know it's all three of them?" Eric asked softly.

"Yeah," Henri added. "I want to believe they're together, too, but…"

Lai rolled her eyes, then reached up and expertly flicked Eric on the forehead. "Idiot."

"Ow! What?"

Lai crossed her arms. "Exactly which of Doctor Quest, Jonny, and Hadji do you think would actually go to a library to signal for help without bringing the other two with him?"

"You're right," Jessie nodded. "Jonny would tie himself to the tread of a tank if it meant not leaving his dad and Hadji behind."

"So if they're signaling, it means all three are okay?" Daryl asked.

"It means they're together," his father said. "It means they're safe for the moment."

"And if they can hang on for less than an hour," Fritz added, "they'll be as safe as I can make them."

"Given the day we've had," Race glanced at the ruin around him, "I'm not sure that's saying a lot."

-==OOO==-

"You _incompetents_! What do you mean they have escaped? It is not possible!" Zin bellowed.

The two Samuels brothers exchanged glances. They knew their failure was probably fatal this time.

From the nearest guard, Doctor Zin snatched up a chain whip. Without warning, he brought it down upon the younger brother's bowed shoulders. To his credit, the man who had been overseer of security for the facility did not bend or move away from the punishment. But he couldn't keep from crying out.

Zin lashed the chain whip sideways, raking the sharp taloned end across the elder Samuels's face before hitting both with the flat of the chain. When he spoke, his voice was deadly cold and still.

"This is unforgivable."

He was turning his back to them – the most dangerous sign of them all; those he forgot had ever existed usually ceased to exist in slow, painful ways – when the soft tone of a call coming into the computer sounded. Zin chose to accept the call without returning his attention to the Samuels brothers.

"Speak."

"It is done, father."

"Excellent. There has been a change of plans," and he turned a baleful, cool eye on the pair that were bleeding and trying not to move to cradle their hurts before him. "I will join you at the meeting coordinates myself. Zin out."

Then his gaze turned fully back to his two employees. Or were they prisoners? To be honest, the brothers realized they had never really known.

"You are necessary for now, as I do not have the time to retrain others to take your positions. But you will be watched. If you do your parts well, I may recall your past service, though a pardon will only be awarded for exemplary work. However, if you behave acceptably, I will make your deaths easy. If you fail again, or if you flee, you will regret it for a long, long, _long_ time before you die."

-==OOO==-

"Help will be here soon, boys." Benton tried to smile at his sons.

 _As useless an enterprise as it is to compare one's hurts_ , he thought, _I cannot decide who is the worst among us. I was merely abused a bit and humiliated. Jonny looks cold and sick, and I can tell he's only barely keeping himself from wrapping around Hadji – he looks so…frightened. And Hadji…I wish I knew what happened to him. If I didn't know better, I'd say he, too, has been scared beyond anything I have ever seen in him, but that would not explain his aloofness. Oh my poor sons. What have I done in bringing you here_?

"It's a good thing Zin's pet Sentinels can't track worth anything," Jonny commented, keeping his senses open for danger; thankfully, the library was empty except for one college-age part-timer downstairs. "And how many of them did you zone, anyway?" he turned to his Guide.

Hadji had barely looked up since they had abandoned the jeep he had driven with unerring accuracy into the city, with no explanation as to how he knew where they were, of course. Now his dark eyes landed not on his father or brother, but on the ancient card catalog behind which they had found a small concealed corner. "No fewer than seventeen, no more than twenty-six. I cannot be more precise than that as I do not know if some were the same individuals who resisted me initially only to fall on a subsequent attempt."

"And you're sure you're okay?" Jonny asked. "That's a _lot_ of zoning people with the Sixth and Seventh." Jonny made an abortive movement as if to tuck an arm around his brother, but he stopped and let the arm drop with palpable frustration.

Hadji didn't turn to him. "I am fine, Jonny."

"He's taking lessons from you, dad," Jonny grumbled.

Benton huffed a laugh. "None of that out of you. I get it enough from Race with that blasted list he keeps."

"Doctor Quest."

Benton looked at his son, gratified to see at last Hadji was making eye-contact. But there was something in Hadji's expression he did not like. "Yes, Hadji?"

"When our allies arrive to shepherd us to safety, we must not let them lock us away. There is too much at risk."

"He's right, dad. Zin's whole plan is to try to force all of SELF's Sentinels to surrender to him so he can brainwash them and have an army for the whole take-over-the-world type stuff. He's gonna hold something hostage that he thought they wouldn't dare resist."

"So, clearly not us, then," Benton commented. _If Race isn't here to keep things light and you don't feel up to it, Jonny, I'll do it myself_.

"No," Hadji shook his head. "No, it is far worse than that."

"What's he going to hold over them?" Jonny asked.

"The entire population of the Pacific Northwest. And we cannot allow him to succeed, no matter the cost."

-==OOO==-

Jim groaned and flung an arm over his eyes. "I don't want to know," he growled. "I'm sleeping here, Simon."

"Don't care if you want to or not – you're getting up," came Simon's steady voice.

Jim sighed. "I feel hungover…like that time we let Brown order the drinks."

"I'm sure you do," Simon's voice didn't waver – not a flicker of a smile. "But this is important, Jim. We need you."

That woke him up some more. He removed his arm and blinked, trying to force his vision to focus. "How long was I out?"

"No more than an hour. Sandburg and the kids are still asleep. Didn't know if I should wake them or not."

Jim sat up, rubbing at his face. "Yeah, let them sleep at least for now. What's going on?"

"What's the last thing you remember? You were pretty out of it." Simon leaned forward with a glass of water, which Jim took gratefully.

"Fighting robots. Sandburg needed me in the Temple. Kind of lost it for a while there, but we took them out." He looked up with alarm. "We did, didn't we?"

"Yeah, we did," Simon nodded, sticking out a hand to help Jim peel himself off the couch on which he had been dumped. "We were in the middle of cleanup when Fritz showed up. He and the others are taking care of the leftovers and reinforcing the perimeter. Oh, and we got a signal beacon from Benton and the boys."

"Are they all right?" Jim demanded. He got his feet under him, just turning to look to assure himself that his Guide was safe. Blair was flopped all over a couch in the greatroom that had been pulled next to his own, with Ngama and Kaimi nearby. Now that he was awake, Jim was amazed he'd slept through the racket going on outside and all the running and shouting across the lodge.

"Fritz sent somebody to pick them up. We don't have any details, but they're at least in protective custody right now and on their way back to Cascade."

"So what's the big problem?" Jim asked.

Simon, looking truly rumpled and half-dead on his feet and, to all appearances, still going strong anyway, grimaced. "One of the robot heads or bodies or whatever they are started beeping. Some kind of backup system that didn't fry. Joel and Race were all ready for it to be a bomb, but it's doing that projector thing. Zin and Brackett are on it, and they want to talk to you specifically."

Jim felt his face contort into an ugly snarl. "What do they want now?"

"Won't say," Simon shrugged. "Not until you're there. Jessie and Fritz are trying to triangulate wherever the signal's coming from. We're keeping the rest of the Sentinels back for now, just in case."

"Good call," Jim nodded. He glanced again to his Guide and the young Sentinel-Guide pair curled up nearby. "Let's keep them out of this as long as possible."

Simon smirked. "Thought you might say that. Are you sure _you're_ up to this?"

Jim's resolve hardened. "Absolutely. Let's go see what those bastards want."

Striding with a confidence and steadiness born under a lifetime of duress, Jim made his way from the corner of the greatroom out the main doors. He didn't need to look far for the giant projection of Zin and Brackett standing side-by-side – the robot doing the projecting had been taken down just at the break of the woods, so he had an unencumbered view of the larger-than-life images of the two men. Facing the projection were Race and Joel; Fritz and Jessie were a few yards away, typing furiously on their devices. Jim knew most of the tribe was nearby, but well out of sight.

Jim strode up to flank Race, Simon at his shoulder. "What do you want, Brackett?" he asked coldly.

"Good to see you again," Brackett smiled. "I was starting to think you'd been taken out in our little visit."

"Apparently not."

"Detective Jim Ellison," said Zin, steepling his fingers before him. "Mister Brackett tells me that your Sentinels follow you, that they obey hierarchy and will submit to your will."

"Not sure where he got that idea," Jim frowned.

"It's amazing what you can learn about Sentinels when you start finding them all over the place," Brackett shrugged.

"Let us be direct," Doctor Zin fixed his eyes on Jim. "I am prepared to offer a proposition, and you will hear it out or I will not be responsible for the consequences."

"Oh yes you will," Race whispered fiercely.

"I'm listening," was all Jim would say.

"I and my forces have infiltrated the Cascade Nuclear Power Plant. We have planted explosives on multiple levels of the facility, undetectable by any conventional or Sentinel means. If you do not acquiesce to our demands, we will trigger the explosives. Cascade may or may not face a nuclear explosion, but it will certainly find itself at ground-zero of a far greater radioactive meltdown than Chernobyl. Every man, woman, and child for hundreds of miles will be exposed to toxic radiation, and if the doses do not instantly kill, they will certainly cause great suffering for all in the years to come as it destroys their bodies from the inside."

"Oh my God, you can't do that!" Joel yelled.

"Silence!" Zin snapped.

Jim swallowed around a fury so potent he thought he might fly apart from it. "What do you want, Zin?"

"You and every Sentinel under your command will meet me at a set of coordinates you will find embedded in this message. Your deadline to appear is four hours from this moment. You will surrender your entire organization to me and you will undergo my procedure. If even one of you fights me or if you delay in any way, the lives of every person in the state of Washington will be forfeit."

"What's your answer, Jim?" Brackett asked. "He's serious, you know. Oh, and we want Blair Sandburg, too."

Jim felt certain the only reason he wasn't howling his rage and fear and hate was that he couldn't seem to unclench his jaw.

Suddenly there was motion at his side. "We will agree, under the condition that you allow me to join the members of SELF long enough to acquire the locations of the bombs from you to ensure they are removed," said Fritz, his expression utterly placid. "You cannot expect us to comply unless we have a guarantee we can maintain the integrity of the nuclear plant."

"Your stipulation is permissible," Zin nodded. "But the agreement is with Ellison."

Jim turned to Fritz, totally dumbstruck. His line-of-sight carried him past the DHS agent, however, to Jessie, who was urgently mouthing something. It took Jim a moment to understand.

She was repeating the Chopec word for "trust" over and over again.

Jim turned back. "You want us so bad, Zin, you've got us." He glowered. "Hope you're happy."

"Very," Zin smiled broadly. "I will see you in four hours."

And the transmission ended.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?" Simon rounded on Fritz.

But Howard held up a hand. "First, make sure that thing is truly dead." He pointed at the robot.

Jim listened carefully, then strode over to where part of its circular body had been pried open. Following his hearing and his sense of touch, he located every single wire that still sang with energy and unplugged them, even tearing apart the battery with angry abandon until Jessie poked her head over his shoulder.

"That should do it. It's not going to go far in that many pieces," she told him.

"Okay, _now_ tell me what the hell you are doing!" Simon yelled.

"Just as the signal from Zin came in, I received a transmission from Doctor Quest," he answered. "He advised me that they had learned of this plan while incarcerated by Zin. And he made an urgent plea to agree to Zin's terms."

"We are _not_ handing everybody over to them!" Joel denied.

"No way," Race agreed. "But we can certainly double-cross them. They'll expect us to play fair. There's no way we'll play fair with so much at stake."

"You okay with that?" Fritz looked at Jim.

Jim shrugged. "I don't care what we do! We just have to stop them. No matter what."

"That's what Hadji said," came a new voice. Jim looked up to see Blair striding forward, his eyes flashing with angry purpose. "We chatted while I was resting."

"Is he okay?" Jessie wanted to know.

"That's…complicated," Blair admitted, "but he's okay enough. They all are. And we have a plan."

"A plan to stop Zin, keep all the tribe from ending up brainwashed zombies, and save Cascade? You've got a plan to do all that?" Simon frowned.

"Yeah," Blair nodded. "But we're not going to stop Zin. _You_ are."


	12. Chapter 12

Big, BIG story climax next Tuesday. Hang on until then.

Also, I'm dedicating this chapter to ravenstolethesun who left me the most encouraging and heartening review I have gotten in a long, long time. Sometimes when I write, I wonder if my stories mean anything to anyone but me. This wouldn't, of course, stop me from writing and posting them. I can't stop what I am and I am a writer. But it does my heart and soul good to know that these stories mean something out in the world, given that they meant so much to me in the writing.

Thank you, everyone, for being here. And ravenstolethesun, you are amazing. This is definitely for you. And if you ever, ever need a oneshot to cheer you up or anything else from someone in MN, you give me a call.

Enjoy!

* * *

The greatroom was packed. The only thing everybody – all the members of the Council and Fritz – had agreed upon was that this was not the time for a closed Council discussion. This was for everyone. So the entire population of the tribe was present, plus all the ancillary members like Brown, Rafe, Eric, Lai, Daryl, and Jessie. Even the toddlers were present, curled up with Bandit beside Melly and Angie in a far corner. Agent Fritz was the only member of the Homeland Security force permitted entry. The rest were on sentry duty around the lodge.

Just as the group had settled, the car bearing Benton, Hadji, and Jonny arrived, roaring up and depositing them at a run. Hadji led the way unerringly up the nearest flight of stairs to join the Council and the key others on the first-floor hallway looking over the rest of the tribe.

In spite of the urgency, Race still managed to get all three of his missing Quest family members into his arms for a brief, careful hug before passing them down the line to everyone who wanted to touch them to ensure they were all right, the Sentinels' expressions darkening at the injuries evident on Benton and the clear strain of the boys. Jim barked for a chair to be brought for Benton, who sank into it gratefully.

Blair, Hadji, and Kaimi exchanged a profound, knowing look. They did not touch, nor speak – not where the Sentinels could hear, anyway.

"All right! Enough!" Simon bellowed for order.

The clamor from below died down.

"You've all heard the situation. Now, apparently there's a plan brewing, so let's hear it." He gestured to the three silent Guides.

Kaimi nodded to Hadji who nodded to Blair. It was Blair who turned to face the tribe.

"There are three different problems," Blair said. "The nuclear plant, for one. Zin for another. And his current force of Sentinels, all brainwashed, in Astoria. Anything we do about any one of those situations will result in the other two imploding – or exploding, I guess." He paused and took a shaky breath.

Jim reached to his Guide and put a warm hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Chief. What have you got?"

Blair leaned into the touch. "The worst part of this plan isn't that we can't do it. Because we can. We _Know_ we can," he glanced to his fellow Guides, who nodded resolutely. "But nobody's going to like it."

"Try us first," Race suggested. "We can always hate it after we've heard it."

That won a small smile. "Well, whatever else happens, we need to send a force of people to Astoria. And we probably need to send another one to take care of the Zins and Brackett and whoever would be with them to meet us if we were really going to surrender. _Which we aren't_." His eyes flashed.

There was a shout of agreement from the tribe.

"The part that makes sense but you'll all hate is this – we have to let Fritz's agents handle Zin and send the tribe to the Sentinels in Astoria."

"Why? Zin should be ours!" Simon recoiled. His feelings were echoed throughout the room.

Blair faltered but Benton stood up and raised a hand for quiet. "While imprisoned in Zin's base, we discovered that Zin has access to records of Sentinels all over the world. _Thousands_ of them. Some employed by the military, others held in facilities for recovery under the official system. Some are part of the black-market Sentinel traders that we've encountered before. But most are files on potential Sentinels, retired Sentinels, and juveniles. While my own search for Sentinels was legal, albeit unofficial, Zin's has not been. His network was vast and he was willing to barter for what he wanted. So, in addition to the Sentinels he has already brainwashed, he has all he needs to acquire _thousands_ more."

Benton took a breath and before anyone could respond, he added, "But it is worse than that. Zin has in his possession the formula for a serum, one that it is my fault he ever acquired. It allows him to introduce a drug to a person who has the genetic potential of becoming a Sentinel and inducing Sentinel abilities artificially."

There was a collective gasp from the crowd.

"Answer me honestly," Blair challenged the tribe. "How many of you want the US government to get their hands on those files or on that formula? No offense, Howard. We like you okay."

"No, I completely agree," Fritz held up his hands. "Anything I acquire I must turn over to the DHS in full. I would do my best, but that list and the serum could still possibly be shared."

"That's why it has to be us and nobody else," Blair turned back to the tribe. "Howard's an ally and friend, but these are _our_ people. And I don't think we want their names known by anybody but ourselves and Benton. And I _definitely_ don't want any government anywhere to know how to make Sentinels as if they were mass-producing uniforms. Do you?"

"That's why you want Howard to go after Zin," Jim nodded. "So we can take care of our own."

"Well, not _us_ , big guy, but the tribe, yeah." Blair looked back out at the crowd. "What do you think?"

Galina interrupted the growing din. "Professor Guide has presented an option. If you object to his plan, raise your hand."

After a few moments of intense discussion, the room settled. Very few hands went up.

"But we can't just leave Zin to the Feds," Simon shook his head.

"I know," Blair nodded. "That's why we need you and Race and Joel to go with them to get Zin. And any other non-Sentinels you can spare," he glanced at Jessie and Daryl.

"Now, wait a minute!" Race objected. "Benton, where are you going?"

"To Astoria," he said staunchly. "I must secure Zin's data, and with my skills I have the greatest chance of acquiring it and then purging it beyond anyone's ability to recover." He smiled at his friend and bodyguard as he eased back into his seat. "I'll have most of the tribe with me. Do you really think they won't protect me?"

Race flushed but looked away, grumbling. A few Sentinels snickered at his muttered words.

Hadji spoke up for the first time. "The Zins will be expecting Sentinels whom they can control. I believe this means they will be prepared to subdue Sentinels by inducing sensory chaos. Thus, it is those without Sentinel senses who will be best able to counter them. But the twins are Sentinels also. You must be able to disable them, and Agent Fritz's team doesn't know how."

"And where will you be?" Joel asked, looking at him closely.

The three Guides exchanged another long look. At last Blair answered, "The six of us have to try to do something about the power plant itself. It's going to take a Sentinel to sniff out the explosives, and it might take some Guide power if things go wrong. We have to stay here and do what we can for Cascade. And we have to do it on our own."

The majority of the lodge's denizens erupted in denial and argument again.

Jim glanced around him. _God, Chief. You really expect me to be okay sending the tribe out to go toe-to-toe with an army of brainwashed Sentinels? To send Simon and Joel and Race with Fritz to apprehend the people behind all of this? And for us to march into a compromised nuclear power plant? No wonder you thought we'd hate it. I do hate it_.

But he also couldn't deny Blair's logic, which had the sly feel of Benton and Hadji in the mix and Jim was definitely going to talk to his Guide about these little sleeping conferences one of these days. _We can't let the DHS take possession of Zin's base until after we've gotten the sensitive information and deleted it or our people will be exposed. And I'm not sending my tribe into Zin's open arms where he's already waiting for us. But_ …

"Jim." Ngama's voice was pitched so softly, even a Sentinel had to strain to hear, and most were too busy yelling to be listening. Jim looked to the young man.

Ngama's dark eyes were serious but steady. "A Sentinel is possessed of not five senses, but Seven. Listen with your spirit, Sentinel. Don't you feel it?"

Jim had had _way_ more of the spiritual stuff than he wanted lately, but he was way past writing it off as imaginary too. He had seen too much, experienced too much. Even if he didn't understand it, he did finally trust that his Sixth and Seventh were just as reliable and necessary as the rest.

Funny that at this point, such a realization wasn't even that earth-shattering compared to everything else.

Jim closed his eyes and dialed down his other senses, isolating him in a cocoon of his own mind. Beside him, Blair took his hand.

And Jim could feel it. It was almost impossible to explain – like that sensation of completeness when a note was played perfectly in tune, or a cast fishing line arced exquisitely, or when all the pieces of a difficult case suddenly resolved clearly into an air-tight arrest. It was a thrumming, vibrant certainty: this is how it must be.

Jim opened his eyes and shook his head. _I will never understand this stuff_. But he spoke over the din of disagreement. "Enough! You don't have to like it. This is what we're doing. And we need to start moving out. It's a long way to Astoria, and Benton and his team needs to get there at the same time we hit Zin with our little ambush. If you want to fight me on this, stand and challenge me here and now. Otherwise, we've got work to do."

There was silence at his pronouncement, at his stark offer to challenge for the leadership of the tribe. Even Jim didn't quite know where that had come from. But he had put it out there and he wasn't about to retract it.

"The watch is yours, Jim," Jonny said suddenly. "I'm with you."

"As am I," Ngama added quietly. "The watch is yours."

Galina, Hasna, and Luka moved to face Jim on the walkway. "If you say it is so, I am willing to trust that," Galina offered. Hasna and Luka nodded, though the latter's gaze was piercingly sharp.

"What say the Guides?" called someone.

"The Guides," Blair shouted back, "will protect their Sentinels and their tribe and their city. And with all of us together, all of us working as one, there is nothing we cannot do!"

-==OOO==-

The eight inhabitants of the Chancery caught one another for a brief moment while everything else was in chaos.

"Are you guys going to be okay?" Eric asked, looking at the two pairs of Sentinels and Guides who were his housemates as well as friends.

Hadji looked up. "If a man knows the wind's course, what use is there to sail across the sea?"

"Which means," Kaimi smiled a little at him, "we think so. We don't know everything. We're not actually omnipotent, you know."

"You're _not_?" Lai asked with false astonishment. Then, without warning, she reached forward and grabbed those who were closest to her – Kaimi and Daryl at each shoulder, their partners on the other side – and forcibly initiated a group hug.

"Sure you're okay?" Jessie looked to her roommate with uncertainty; Lai was not a huggy sort of person.

"No," Lai shook her head, one long dreadlock slipping loose to hang down in front of her shoulder. "I'm scared to death for all of you."

"I'm sorry you were ever a part of this," Jonny said honestly. "We never meant…"

The circle of arms jolted sideways as Eric disentangled himself long enough to bop his own former roommate on the head. "None of that, Quest. We walked in with our eyes wide open. Maybe we didn't expect brainwashing and giant robots, but we all knew the stories. We knew what we were getting into with your family." Then, a little strangled, " _Our_ family."

"You're right about that," Daryl said. "This is where we wanted to be. It's still where I want to be. I'm not sorry."

"I'm not sorry either," Lai said. "I'm just scared."

"Me too," Kaimi admitted quietly, tipping her head against Lai's.

"You'd be safer if you wanted to back out," Jonny said, meeting Lai's troubled eyes firmly. "You don't have to go with dad if you don't want to. You could both stay with the others."

"Don't be a moron – of course I'm going with Doctor Quest!" Lai glared at him. "The tribe needs to be there, I get it. But they also need some non-Sentinels along who aren't affiliated with the government just in case. We can't just run away. We need to be there to run support and to keep the Sentinels safe."

"And, if you could," Hadji added softly, "we would also ask you to guard over Melly and Angie specifically. Their brothers will be needed with Zin. They will be safe with both of you, but it is Eric they will trust particularly. They like you. You remind them of Brian."

"Of course I'll take care of them. But we'll be a long way off from the rest of you – again," Eric finished. "What if…?"

"If the worst happens," Ngama said, "we will be grateful at least that you and the tribe will be spared the initial fallout within Cascade. Astoria is far enough away that you may be able to escape the radioactive fallout should such an escape be necessary."

"Zin's _not_ getting away with this," Jessie said through grit teeth. "He's _not going to win this time_."

"Not with you and Daryl there to catch him, Ace," Jonny smiled at her. "Make sure you clock Anaya good for me, okay?"

"You got it," Jessie met his eyes. And she noticed the way Hadji did not.

Eric shifted so one arm was wound around Daryl and the other around Jessie, leaning forward like a team huddling together at a sporting event. The others copied the gesture until they were a tight knot, their heads drawn up so close they could feel each others' breaths as one.

"We are where we must be," Hadji said quietly. "And I pray that we will have this chance again to hold one another. Remember always that life is a constant no matter its vessel. It is possible we will find one another again in an entirely unexpected manner."

"And…in case we don't get the chance to come back here like this," Eric's voice was strained, "you've been the best…the _only_ real family I've ever had. I hope you know that."

"I cannot regret anything that may come to pass, for it has brought me this," Ngama said, squeezing Kaimi against him. "For it has brought me all of you."

"Don't get all doom and gloom on us," Daryl said staunchly, his voice more like his father's than he would have realized. "Everybody's coming back from this one. Nothing else is okay. You hear me?"

"We hear you," Kaimi said. "You just watch out for Brackett and the Zins."

"We will," Jessie promised. "They won't know what hit them."

"And for the sake of all the gods who might be listening," Lai said, caught somewhere between tears and exasperation, "don't overdo it. _Any_ of you."

"We'll do our best," Jonny affirmed. "But…"

What could he say? They could all hear what filled the silence: _but we'll do whatever we have to in order to save the people and the tribe and the Sentinels all over the world who are at risk and don't even know it. And we're counting on you to do the same_.

"It does not matter where we are," Hadji finally said. "We are together and we shall always be together. And our fates are not yet written. Trust in us, trust in the steps that guided us here. And may it be enough for us all."

-==OOO==-

Less than thirty minutes after the decision had been made, the SELF complex emptied out completely. Three different caravans set out going different directions.

In the first, the unmarked buses apparently carried the population of SELF, with Simon, Joel, Agent Fritz, Race, Henri, and Brian all sitting up front in the lead bus. They went quickly, but not speeding, as they made for the location provided by Zin in his message – an abandoned shipping dock more than two hours to the north of Cascade.

"Okay, somebody explain how this works again," Henri called over his shoulder.

Hiding in the back of the largely silent bus, Jessie grinned. "The windows of all of these buses had been treated with a particular substance that makes them hard to see through anyway. We just grabbed all the projectors from the lodge and we're calibrating them now. By the time we're out of the trees and in the open, each bus will have a projector rigged up to play on the tinted windows. It wouldn't fool a Sentinel at close range, but if Zin is monitoring us via any kind of hacked satellite feed, he'll be able to make out certain distinctive people he knows are Sentinels and not the DHS soldiers when he looks at the windows."

"In addition," Howard said with a small smile, "any local cameras such as at traffic lights or storefronts will spontaneously go dark when we pass, so he will have no ability to spy on us from too close."

"Do I even want to know how you arranged for that?" Simon asked with a testy glare.

"No, I don't think so."

"Right then."

The second caravan was made up of DHS-emblazoned vehicles. These went screaming through the streets of Cascade, many heading straight to the local FBI building and the rest either to the Cascade Police Department headquarters or the City Hall and other major municipal buildings. The vehicles were being driven by legitimate DHS agents, who would dutifully inform the authorities of 'a situation' and would refer them up the chain of command for orders. But, carefully hidden in each vehicle were the non-combatant members of SELF – the toddlers with Emeline (Hasna insisting on joining the front line assault team), the injured, the elderly, and the other non-Sentinel family members who had followed their Sentinels to SELF. The DHS agents had all been chosen to protect these most vulnerable of the tribe, and had passed a test of _every single_ Sentinel glaring at them and searching them for weakness or failing. Once they had reached the official buildings, the agents would transfer their precious cargo to other vehicles and would sneak out in the routine chaos to carry them to where an unmarked jet was already being prepped for flight. One Sentinel, Meilin, was a trained pilot; she would be responsible for shepherding the rest of the tribe to safety far from Cascade.

The tribe knew it was hypocritical of them to evacuate their own families when they couldn't evacuate the entire region under threat. But they also knew their best chance of saving the millions of lives in the Pacific Northwest would lie in completing their missions, and they would be able to focus on saving their territory if they did not have to fear for their own.

"Mama okay?" Yasmin asked as she clung to JJ and Emeline in the back of a van between two crates of supplies.

"Your mama will be fine," Emeline told her firmly.

"Joel okay? Home soon?"

"Joel will be okay too, and then, yes, we'll go home again. And I will be here to keep you both safe, I promise," Emeline nuzzled the pair, her own resolve firm in her heart.

Bandit wuffled piteously, having had to be forced into the van by Jonny himself and he was not liking this turn of events one bit. JJ hugged him tightly.

"It okay, Bannit. Mama say so."

The final caravan was made up of the motley collection of vehicles throughout the complex, from Jim's truck to Simon's car to the multiple vans the Quests tended to share. These were stuffed with all the Sentinels who could fit in them, including breaking a number of laws that Jim recited by lying down in the bed of the various trucks or sitting on laps and floors. By creative piling and seating and squeezing, the bulk of the tribe crammed themselves into as few vehicles as possible to create the illusion that _they_ were the civilians fleeing for their lives. They left intermittently and all headed east, using the dense forest cover of the mountains to conceal them. Each driver had been issued an emergency DHS badge and papers that should get them out of any traffic stops if they were caught. But these were Sentinels, some with years of the best teaching Blair and Benton and Hadji could devise. No highway patrol officer would catch them unawares.

With Benton driving Simon's car (Simon Banks did _not_ lend his car out to just anyone), they coordinated via phones and text and sometimes pure Sentinel hearing as the apparently uncoordinated fleet used their knowledge of the mountains to carefully wind their way south before they hit the highways and took off for Oregon at speed. Astoria was normally 3 hours away by interstate at normal velocity. Benton had calculated the precise mathematical equation to cut that time down by increasing their speed and taking a very specific route.

Luka, behind the wheel of Jim's beloved truck, grimaced at the labored sound that resulted from the ridiculous pace Benton had set. "If the engine doesn't fall out of this thing on the way there, it absolutely will on the way back."

Beside him, Galina glanced at the speedometer. "I won't tell Jim if you don't."

"Good idea," Leilani commented. Though not a Sentinel, she had insisted she go where the injured Sentinels would be, and even Kaimi had not tried to argue with her.

Those who had remained at the lodge set out almost an hour after the first three waves. Jim, Blair, Jonny, Hadji, Ngama, and Kaimi had stayed behind to secure it on their own. Most of the complex was still in lock-down from the attack – they focused on overriding or repairing whatever perimeter guards could be done quickly and double- and triple-locking the Quest system against incursion by Zin or Brackett.

But before long they were gathered at the fireplace in the greatroom, looking over the chaos that had encroached into their space. Their home.

"So, what exactly are we going to do here, Einstein?" Jim looked at his partner. "I'm betting you know even less than I do about nuclear reactors."

"Yeah, but that part doesn't matter," Blair shook his head.

"There are two potential futures for us and one is vastly simpler than the other," Hadji offered, settling his gaze on the middle distance between Jim and Blair. "If we succeed in removing all possible threats to the nuclear facility via normal means, we will not have to employ the second."

"Meaning?" Jonny asked.

"Meaning, if we can't get the bombs out of the plant, we'll have to do something about the plant using the Seventh," Kaimi explained. Even she looked away. "And if it comes to that, well, it won't be easy."

"So let's not let it come to that," Jim said decisively. He was getting a crawling feeling of dread in his stomach. "I think it's been long enough that Zin won't be watching for us to leave the lodge anymore."

"Can we truly walk up to the power plant, identify ourselves as DHS agents, and demand to be allowed to roam freely?" Ngama wanted to know.

"Yes," Blair looked up, solid steel in his eyes. "That's exactly what we're going to do."

-==OOO==-

Benton handed his phone to Hasna and had her hit the button that called all the phones in the little network he had quickly defined as his own group. "We're almost there," he said as soon as the line connected. "Once we get much closer, they'll be aware of us."

"We are already aware of them," Luka said. "The very air fills with it."

"What's the plan?" Hasna asked.

"We cannot assume we can negotiate with them," Benton answered. "They are completely under the thrall of Zin's powers now. I think the best we can do is attempt to zone them so we can remove the brainwashing before they are aware."

"It won't work," came Melly's soft voice from the back seat of Benton's borrowed car.

Hasna turned. "Why not?"

Melly shrugged, pulling on her fingers. "I'm not sure. I mean, I guess you can zone them if you want. But it's hard to get that many people to zone all at the same time, and some of them are probably pretty good at waking themselves up out of it. And you already said there were people who aren't Sentinels there, too."

Benton nodded. He spared a moment to marvel at the silence on the phone – of the scores of Sentinels who listened attentively to Melly rather than ignoring her. But, as he had learned, Sentinels very rarely ignored Guides, even if the reverse wasn't true. "So, what do you think?"

"I wish I could call Blair," Melly admitted. "He would know. But…I think…"

"It's okay," Angie reached over and took her Guide's hands. "Just say it. Nobody will laugh at you."

"Well, when the others were with me and I helped Dmitri, we pulled him out of it kind of by filling him up with ourselves. Blair and Hadji and Kaimi and me, we kind of balled up our spirit animals and Guide stuff and stuck it in his head for a minute."

"Like foxball," Benton said. "Only on a much grander scale."

"Sure," Melly shrugged again. "I think…if I understand what Blair and Hadji told me, it's like all that spirit stuff hits the Sentinel's brain like lightning and kind of overwhelms it. Like a power surge. And then it restarts right."

"But you can't do that yourself," Angie said. "No offense, love. But you needed the other three for one Sentinel, and there's hundreds up ahead."

"Right," Melly nodded, "but we have lots of Sentinels, too."

"You wish us to wage the same war against these Sentinels that the others did against the robots," Galina spoke up. "But the reason we did not interfere with the robots was our own fear of zoning."

"We can do it." That was Hasna, and her voice was steady and strong. "There is no expenditure of energy required here, only the awareness of spirit animals and the ability to command them. We can do this much."

"With so many of us, we can help each other, ground each other," Luka put in.

"And don't forget about the rest of us," came Lai's voice. "We'll bring you out if we can."

"It could work," Benton considered. "If we could even free a portion of the Sentinels from the control, they might be able to help us."

"But the risk is great," Galina said.

"But not for some of us like the rest of you."

"Julia?" Benton frowned.

"I don't have a Seventh," the last and quietest member of the Council spoke up. "There's a lot of us who don't. And we don't zone as easily on the Sixth as the rest of you. We don't get pulled in by the Door, I think. Let us help with this."

Benton thought quickly. _There are at least 30 Sentinels like Julia, who lack a Seventh. If they joined forces with a few full Sentinels, they might well decrease the likelihood of zoning for them all_.

"Does everyone agree?" he asked.

"It is a sound plan," Galina approved. "When we arrive, I want those Sentinels who will participate to break into groups of four. Two Sixth Sentinels and two Seventh Sentinels in each group, only those most comfortable with their spirit animals. Melly and Angie, you'll work with me. We will try to bring out as many as we can in a first surprise wave. The rest will help assist with any who zone before we begin a true assault."

As the conversation went on, Benton glanced back to the nervous pair of girls holding onto one another.

"We're lucky to have you two," he told them gently. "You're going to be the difference today, I can tell."

"But we're different. And not even bonded," Melly said almost defensively.

"And I think that's why it's going to work," Benton said.

-==OOO==-

The dock looked deserted, but Race knew that it wasn't.

"I'll go ahead," Fritz offered.

The others nodded at him – with Sentinels potentially anywhere, they didn't dare speak and give away who had arrived in the buses. The DHS tactical teams would stay put until they were truly ready to spring the trap.

Jessie held up her phone for her father and the others to see a message from Jonny. "At the plant. Need at least another half hour."

Fritz gave a thumbs-up to show he understood before he let himself out of the bus.

The rest watched as their DHS liaison strode onto the broken-up quay, staying carefully clear of the barge that waited ominously out at the end of the most intact pier.

"I am here to negotiate the surrender of the Sentinels in exchange for the safety of the Cascade power plant!" he yelled.

In the darkening light as dusk fell, the sudden blaze of concealed searchlights caused even those in the bus to flinch.

"Where is Jim Ellison?" called Brackett's voice from the shadows. "We're negotiating with him."

"No," Fritz stood firm. "You're negotiating with me. Then you get Ellison and the rest. I want the locations of all the bombs in the nuclear facility or this deal is off."

"I must admire such tenacity, if I find it rather irritating," came the smooth voice of Zin. The man himself appeared in the light perched right next to the dock that led to the waiting barge. "Very well. Anaya, Melana – give this man what he wants."

Behind Fritz, two slender forms emerged from the shadows.

"There are ten sets of explosives," one of the twins said. "All contained within one of these."

One of the Zin spider-bots, smaller, like the ones Blair and Hadji had encountered a few years prior, stepped out beside the girls.

"And where are they?" Fritz demanded. "You get nothing if I cannot ensure the plant is secure."

The other twin began rattling off locations, pausing frequently to be interrupted by Fritz for greater detail or clarity. He appeared to be taking copious notes. However, the dialogue was audible from the bus thanks to the bug Fritz was wearing, and as each location was named, Jessie frantically relayed them to the six on-site.

"You have what you demanded," Zin said at last. "Now, I want my Sentinels. Jim Ellison! I command you show yourself!"

The only answer was gunfire.

-==OOO==-

Jim swallowed against the thick lump in his throat. _Whoever heard of having an allergy to being in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant_?

Nonetheless, all three Sentinels had been uneasy on the approach to the location, based a little upriver from Cascade but not nearly far enough now. With every step from the parking lot, the feeling had gotten worse, starting as a buzz under the skin and now almost a full histamine reaction. Jim, Jonny, and Ngama had been almost unable to add to Blair's smooth delivery of his status and his need to inspect the plant, lost as they'd been in a hunt for tissues and trying not to swallow gunk that hadn't been there minutes before.

"It is the low level of radiation that permeates the building, like the sensation of standing too close to a microwave," Hadji had explained softly while Blair waved his badge at the most senior official on site. "Be grateful your bodies experience it like a foreign invader and not as the charged particles it is at these low doses."

Blair had never obfuscated so quickly, though most of what he said wasn't, for once, even vaguely untrue. The only part he had to fudge was the specialties of the six of them and why they were the ones responding to the threat rather than actual nuclear engineers and experts. Still, in less than 20 minutes, their clearance had been confirmed, and the Secretary of Homeland Security himself had assured the facility's authorities that the danger was very real.

Once the threat was believed, the plant's operators had flown into action, calling for security checks, lock-downs, even beginning an emergency shutdown of all four reactors to try to minimize exposure if any explosion occurred.

"However," said the woman in charge, Doctor Sandra Martinez, "even if the reactors are cool, the fuel and spent rods are still just as dangerous, and the fallout would be substantial."

"That's why we're going to try to find the bombs before that happens," Blair assured her. "You've just got to let us do this."

"Do anything you can. I'll keep operations here working on visual inspections while we try to get everything contained." She thrust a thick sheaf of paper at Jonny. "These are the full plans of the plant. Anything marked in orange is a high-risk area which would be likely targets."

"May we take one of these?" Hadji pointed to a walkie-talkie on the doctor's desk. "It would allow us to communicate with you and with plant personnel."

"Absolutely. If you need to go somewhere that's off-limits, just call in your position and someone will let you in. I'd send you with a guide but I need every pair of hands I can get at this point to initiate the full-shutdown and begin implementing emergency measures."

"Don't worry," Hadji told her serenely. "We are well able to guide ourselves."

Doctor Martinez was too busy to spot Kaimi and Jonny both poking him for the bad pun.

 _Good to know the kids still feel light_ , Jim thought. _We're gonna need all the positivity we can get here_.

And then they were away, off into unfamiliar hallways while flashing lights reflected orange and yellow warnings and technicians and engineers raced about. Jonny handed the map to Ngama, who quickly oriented himself. Heedless of his dripping nose and the growing tension in his muscles that felt very like the flu settling in, he opened his dials and began taking in his surroundings.

"We are closest to this area here," he gestured at the map. "And it is among the most critical marked."

"Let's go," Jim agreed.

They hadn't gone more than a few yards when Jonny suddenly shivered.

"What is it?" Hadji looked sharply at his brother.

"I smell…" his face creased in a deep scowl. "Anaya. She was here not long ago."

"Then we're definitely on the right track," Blair nodded. "Jim? You getting anything?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it. I'd know that cheap-suit smell anywhere. That's Brackett. But it goes off that way," he gestured away from the path they had been about to take.

"Well, they said there were multiple bombs," Kaimi pointed out. "They probably split up."

"We, however, should remain together," Ngama advised. "Only Jim can dismantle a bomb, and if the Seventh is required, we may need to help one another."

"He's right," Jonny agreed. "Let's just go faster." And he set off down the hall after the smell that turned his stomach, even as he reached back blindly and closed a hand on his Guide's forearm. Even now, with everything else going wrong, the smell of that Sentinel made him uncommonly irritated. Hadji was _his_.

The scent stopped in the middle of a hallway not far away. "It's here," Jonny dropped to one knee beside an air vent.

Jim and Ngama joined him and the three strained to look into the vent. Jim pointed to the little scratches along the bottom that none but a Sentinel could have seen. "Something went this way. Not something that was pushed or dragged, though."

"More spiders," Jonny sighed. "They could be anywhere in the building."

"And likely in places humans cannot go," Ngama added. "Not just for size, but because they can penetrate to places that are already flooded with radiation."

Just then, their phones beeped and Jessie began relaying the specific coordinates to the ten different bombs. As each location came in, Hadji used the radio they had acquired to alert Doctor Martinez. But it was clear that it was a futile effort.

"We'll never get to them all in time, and some of those look like places a bomb squad can't even go," Kaimi clenched her hands. "We're stuck with option two."

Jim saw Sandburg swallow reflexively and read the increased rate of his heartbeat. "Chief?"

"It is what it is, Jim," Blair didn't look at him. "Come on. We can't do this in here."

-==OOO==-

Benton watched as his tribe of Sentinels prepared themselves for battle. The warehouse complex Zin had appropriated loomed before them. Already, the SELF tribe had been fired upon, but as soon as Maxim had identified the guns used by the guards stationed outside, he pulled the force back to a distance that was out of range.

As Galina had ordered, the Sentinels who lacked a Seventh had spread out, forming little clumps with those most able to command their spirit animals. Not for the first time, Benton wished he could see them himself – from the expression on Melly's face, there was a veritable menagerie in the open field before them. Eric, Lai, Leilani, himself, and the remaining Sentinels spread out among the crowd, ready to render assistance if needed.

Hasna, Luka, and Galina stood with their groups at the front, Galina holding Melly's hands tightly while Angie clung to her Guide without touching the Sentinel herself.

"I know most of you cannot see what your spirit animals do once they pass beyond our sight – that is a true Guide gift," Galina said. "But do your best, all of you. The more souls we save this way, the fewer we must fight and risk harm. These are not our enemy. These are our brothers and sisters, their minds warped."

Hasna coughed sharply once and threw her head back. "For Ivanna and Dmitri!"

The crowd roared, " _Ivanna and Dmitri_!"

And they fell strangely silent.

Benton could see the impact on his own Sentinels long before any response was visible from Zin's complex. Almost at once, most of the Sentinels making the attempt began to shiver where they stood, hands and arms interlaced with those in their group. A few dropped after only a matter of seconds, Leilani and Eric and Lai racing to them. But Benton held his position near the front, watching over the most exposed of his people.

Suddenly, gunfire sounded – crashingly loud after the silence. Benton scanned the area, but saw nothing.

"It's them!" shouted Antonio. "They're fighting each other!"

Angie moaned just as Melly broke away from Galina. "I can't…I can't do anymore," she gasped. "There's too much…"

"It's all right," Hasna told her. "We've started it."

Luka faced the complex. "If you are no longer of Zin's, call out so we know whom to name friends!"

Benton held his breath.

The Sentinels around him began to smile. "I counted at least sixty and more call out still," Maxim reported.

"I did not think we would get so many," Galina said. "They are brave indeed to wake to such chaos and dare to fight. True Sentinels."

"But Zin's people and the remaining brainwashed Sentinels are attacking them," Luka said. "Our brothers and sisters are fighting for their lives and their souls. Let us go and help them!"

The crowd of Sentinels began to charge, weapons drawn. Benton reached out and snagged Angie's sleeve before she could move.

"You stay here with your Guide," he told her. "Eric and Lai will watch over you."

"And I shall watch over you," Leilani said, coming up at Benton's elbow. "Race will kill me if I let you get hurt."

With no time to argue, Benton just nodded. He glanced to Eric and Lai, who had pulled the dozen or so Sentinels who were zoned to shelter behind a rise in the ground. "Stay in touch."

And he drew his own tranquilizer gun and followed his tribe into battle.

-==OOO==-

"How is it possible that things can go so bad so _fast_?" Simon demanded, pressing his back against the ruined crate that was serving as his only cover.

"I dunno, sir, but it seems like it always works out this way!" Henri shouted back. What had been a negotiation had turned into an all-out firefight battle in seemingly the blink of an eye.

"This? This isn't even in my top ten 'Situations Gone Bad' highlight reel!" Race threw them a jaunty smile as he took advantage of a tiny break in the firing to heave upwards and blast a few shots of his own.

"We're on the brink of nuclear disaster and that's _not_ in your top ten? God, I don't want your life," Joel expertly snapped another grenade into place. He glared over at Simon. "I'm _supposed_ to be retired!"

"Yeah, how's that going for you?" Brian wanted to know.

Joel leaned out and fired the grenade, taking cover as it exploded. "Great! Thanks for asking!"

"Can we please focus on the situation?" Simon yelled. He half-crawled, half-scooted from his cover to a position closer to Henri and Brian.

"You started it, sir," Henri pointed out.

"I'm the one who really upped the ante," Race said with a shrug.

A few yards back, Jessie and Daryl glanced at each other. "Now I know where you get it," Daryl told her.

"You saying you didn't know before?" she replied, tossing her head. "What exactly have you been paying attention to for all this time?"

Daryl grinned brilliantly at her. "Have I mentioned that I love you today?"

"Likewise," she flashed a smile at him. "Come on."

Keeping low and moving quickly, the pair skirted the edge of the area where most of the DHS agents had found cover behind the remains of one of the buses. Their attention was wholly on the threat at hand – the half-dozen spider-bots that had appeared as soon as the fight had broken out. It had been bad enough when Zin had started shouting about betrayal and turned to make good on his threat to bomb the nuclear plant. The arrival of the robots had only added to their problems.

"Where are we going?" Daryl whispered. "Since clearly we're not running away."

"No," Jessie shook her head, darting out long enough to sprint to the water's edge and sinking down behind the remains of a pier. When Daryl was beside her, she pointed. "The robots are keeping everybody at bay. We've got to get to that barge and dismantle whatever Zin has to control the bombs at the plant before he sets them off."

"I agree," came a voice suddenly beside them. The pair looked up to see Agent Howard Fritz.

"I thought you got shot!" Daryl exclaimed, reaching for the man.

Fritz waved him away. "I did a little, but it's not bad. Zin activating those bombs is a lot worse."

"What happened to Zin and the twins?" Jessie asked.

"I don't know," Howard said, shaking his head. "But I think the tugboat set up to pull the barge is a good place to start. You both armed?"

"Yes sir," Jessie affirmed. She gestured to where they had both secured holsters under the bulletproof vests they'd donned before the bus had even arrived. She didn't bother to point out that she was carrying more than one weapon, but he seemed satisfied that they each carried a ready firearm at least.

"Our dads are going to kill you," Daryl pointed out even as they began making their way along the waterline to the dock. "You and us, probably."

"That a problem?" Fritz asked.

Daryl shrugged. "No. I'm just saying."

"You both over 18 years of age?"

"Yes sir."

"Good." Howard actually paused to glance at them. "Jessie's been on the books for years, so raise your right hand, Banks."

Daryl blinked and complied, trying not to slip on the wet rocks as they scrambled along.

"Do you swear to help save the world and not betray the US government to the best of your ability?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Good," Fritz skidded along a sunken plank of wood, offering the pair a hand when he reached stable footing on the other side. "By the power vested in me by the Department of Homeland Security, I hereby deputize you as a full acting agent under my direct command for the duration of this emergency situation. So now I'll make it an order: we're getting into that boat and we're stopping Zin and your dad can file a complaint with the department if he doesn't like it."

Daryl looked at where Jessie was openly sniggering. "Hey, this'll look good on my application to the Academy anyway!"

"Not if there isn't one left to attend," Fritz said, but the touch of a smile hovered around his face anyway, barely visible in the falling night in spite of the flashes of explosions and laser blasts from the battle raging not far away.

Jessie was ignoring them both, picking her way along when her fingers closed on a taut rope. "What's this?" she turned back to them.

"That's my getaway."

Jessie turned back just in time to block the punch aimed at her face. She caught the blow on a forearm, but the slippery rocks worked against her and she lost her footing. She crashed to the side, bringing up her gun automatically.

But Howard beat her to the command. "Freeze, Brackett!"

"Sorry, sir," Lee Brackett emerged fully from the shadows that had been concealing him. "That's not gonna work out for either of us."

"You're under arrest!" Daryl told him, blood singing.

Brackett shrugged. "If that's how you want it. But I can do you one better if you let me."

"What do you mean?" Jessie demanded.

"Look, I'm not stupid. I figured Zin's chances were fifty-fifty at best for getting this stupid plan to work. And you can bet I didn't want to be here to see it happen live and up close. So I left everybody an out, and if you let me go, I'll even hand it over to you."

"What is it?" Howard asked, his voice steady and even.

"I can't disable the bombs remotely. Only Zin and those crazy twin Sentinels can do that. But I added a little something to the timer before they go off. Even if he pushes the big red button right now, the countdown is approximately thirty minutes longer than he thinks it is. I figure that should give you enough time to stop it, or for Ellison to heroically save the day somehow."

"Why would you do something like that?" Daryl couldn't help but want to know.

"You think I want to be here when that plant goes boom?" Brackett peered at him. "I'm a lot of things, but I'm not suicidal. I'm not crazy either."

"So why should we let you go?" Jessie challenged him. "If you already fixed the timer, we don't need you."

"Good point," he said. "But I'm willing to bet you don't have time to sit here and fight me into submission even three-on-one. Zin could have hit the button ten minutes ago, after all."

"He's right," Fritz said, slowly lowering his weapon.

"And that's the difference between guys like you and me," Brackett grinned at the agent. "Because you could always just kill me and be on your merry way, but you won't. You betrayed Zin's deal, but you won't murder me just to pick up time."

A shot sounded and Brackett went down hard with a surprised grunt.

"No," came a new voice, "but I will definitely tranq you to shut you up."

"Dad!" Jessie got to her feet as her father appeared from a deep shadow.

"Come on, kiddo. We've got work to do." Race offered her a hand and pulled her up the embankment to the edge of the barge's pier.

"How'd you know he was there?" Daryl asked Fritz as he climbed. He slid a bit and Fritz grabbed the back of his protective vest to steady him.

"Never run an op without an earpiece," Howard told him, tapping his own ear.

"Why didn't we get earpieces?" Jessie wanted to know.

"Because you missed the mission briefing to go hug your friends goodbye," Race said.

"Speaking of which," Howard touched the pin on his collar that controlled his own device, "we're heading into the boat. Going dark. Expect radio silence until either the Sentinels are down or we are out."

A moment later, Race winced. "Daryl, your dad says, and I quote, 'You get my son out unhurt, Bannon, or I'm going to lose an entire bag of golf clubs down your throat one at a time.' So don't get hurt, okay?"

Daryl laughed. "Tell dad I love him too and we'll be fine."

"Hear that?" Race asked over the open line. Then he winked. "Oh, sorry. Didn't catch that. Going dark now. Bye-bye!"

"It's a wonder that Captain Banks hasn't shot you yet," Howard muttered.

" _You_ never did," Race told him with a grin at Jessie and Daryl.

"I'm regretting that decision a little bit now." Howard clicked a set of handcuffs around Brackett, securing him to a post that seemed fairly sturdy. "Come on. Let's move."

-==OOO==-

Simon growled at the sudden silence in his earpiece.

Beside him, Joel looked up with a wry expression. "You know, I didn't know anyone could be worse to deal with than Ellison. I'll have to thank Race for proving me wrong."

"If anything happens to my boy, there won't be enough of him _left_ to thank," Simon menaced.

"On the other hand," Brian put in, "if anything was going to turn Daryl off of going into police work, this is pretty much it. If this doesn't dissuade him, nothing will."

"Good point," Simon nodded sharply. "Okay. We've got half the DHS army here happy to take pot-shots at those spider robots. Let's see if we can't find a better way of shutting them down."

"Lead the way, boss," Henri grinned.

"You are having _way_ too much fun," Joel told him, trying to look severe.

"Not yet," Brown shrugged. "Simmons hasn't lent me her bazooka yet. _That_ will be fun."

"Lord help us," Simon groaned. What he didn't say aloud was, _Because I have a very bad feeling that we're going to need a miracle to get out of this in one piece_.


	13. Chapter 13

The final chapter of this novel will be posted on Sunday, but stick around. There are a few loose ends we'll be tying up between now and the proper end of 2015.

Until then, I hope this brings you home. Everything – this entire journey – has been leading us all to this very spot.

Enjoy!

* * *

The three Sentinel-Guide pairs fled the nuclear plant, Blair mouthing off some excuse about going to get reinforcements or experts or something. But once outside, they ran for the van only to drive it far enough away that the Sentinels were clear of the influence of the bothersome radiation. Then they abandoned the van and charged straight up the river bluff that overlooked the facility. In a matter of frantic minutes, they were perched against the dark sky on a green hill that gave them a view of the valley and the whole plant below. The Guides could only see the flashing lights and human illumination, but the Sentinels could, if they looked very closely, almost see the unseeable – the waiting disaster, radiation coiled like a snake and ready to strike.

"So what's the plan?" Jonny asked.

"We head into the Seventh," Kaimi said. "We try to diffuse those bombs from there."

"We need to hurry," Jim said, feeling his body reorder itself as it gained distance from the plant, which only made his instincts scream louder that everything was wrong.

"Agreed," Ngama nodded, dropping to sit on the grass. "Quickly, then." He stretched a hand to Kaimi who settled beside him.

Five of them met at the Temple.

"Where's Hadji?" Jim asked, looking around. Somehow, the indigo jungle didn't feel as welcoming as it usually did. It felt…disconcerting.

"I am here."

"Oh, Hadj." Jonny's voice was low and caught like a sob. Blair and Kaimi turned away, blinking hard.

When he finally spotted him, he understood why he hadn't seen him before; Hadji looked like a ghost to Jim. The presence that he had long thought shone the brightest in this strange astral world was wispy, insubstantial, largely see-through. He did not stand on the ground in front of the Temple with the rest of them. He hovered in the air like a thin trail of mist rising off a lake at dawn.

"Appearances aside," came Hadji's voice, and it was Hadji's voice even if it was a little less rich, "I am largely unchanged. My powers remain, and I am just as capable of exercising them as I have ever been."

"Is it dangerous?"

Jim looked to Jonny. The blond head hung down, his shoulders were hunched up around his ears, and Jim was fairly certain most people would be bawling or worse. And it didn't take a Sentinel to see the fine tremor that ran through the young man. His voice was hoarse and shaky.

"Is what dangerous, my friend?" Hadji asked gently.

Jonny looked up and his eyes were luminous with pain. "If you go to the Steps, if you go through the Door. Is it dangerous?" Then, with raw breathlessness, "Am I going to lose you?"

"I sincerely hope not, Jonny Quest." The apparition that was Hadji flowed forward and touched Jonny's chest, his hand sinking through a little. "I do not intend to be lost again."

"Oh man," Blair shivered, instinctively drawing nearer to his own Sentinel. Jim pulled him back to his chest and held him.

"Chief?"

"It's…Hadji got lost beyond the Seventh Door once already," Blair said, gulping. "He's lucky he's alive, lucky his soul is still intact."

Jim squeezed his Guide tighter. "Can that happen to you?"

"Only if…"

"If what?"

"If you let it happen to him." That was Jonny and his voice was totally despondent. "Like I did."

"You are incorrect, Jonny, but we do not have the time to discuss it fully," Hadji said. "For now, you must trust that your presence here will hold me, and that is enough. Now, come." And he began to float into the Temple.

Jonny followed, Ngama and Kaimi clinging to one another wordlessly in his wake. Before they took a step, however, Jim leaned down to his partner.

"I'll never let it happen, Blair. Not to you. _Never_. I promise."

Blair looked up and their eyes met. Blair smiled. "I know that. Me too, Jim."

It was hard for Jim to let go of Blair enough to walk up the Steps with him, enough to watch him prepare to pass beyond the Seventh Door. And if it was hard for him, it must have been torture for Jonny, who could barely look anywhere but at his own feet while his shoulders trembled and his hands were tight in fists.

Ngama and Kaimi whispered to one another before Kaimi slid away into the darkness beyond the Seventh Door. Jim watched her go, his grip on Blair's shoulder seeming the only solid thing in a world he knew was both completely unreal and yet totally real at the same time.

"Remember," Blair's voice brought him up short and he met the steady blue eyes fixed on him. "Even if you can't follow where I go, you're right with me. We're in this together to the end."

Jim made himself nod. "Just make sure that's not too soon, okay Sandburg?"

"Got it." Blair slugged his Sentinel lightly on the bicep and turned to the Door with a smile. "See you in a sec, Ellison."

And he vanished.

But he was still in Jim's awareness, still in his head and his heart – mostly. And that was what mattered.

"Hadji?"

Jim glanced at Jonny, whose head had come up again to peer at the barely-there form of his Guide and brother.

"Yes?"

"I'm…I'm sorry," Jonny said, the words falling from him like the weight of anguish. "I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough…that we had such a stupid plan and you…"

"Don't." Hadji's voice was gentle and commanding. "I made my own choices freely. I carry many regrets, but not that one. I would have given much more to save you."

"But now I…how do I save you?" Jonny asked, sounding small. Sounding, Jim realized, like the little boy who had first claimed Hadji as friend and brother long before he had become a Guide and soulmate.

"You already have. And now it is my turn to save you." Hadji smiled slightly. Then he passed through Jonny to the door. "We are what and where we must be, my brother. Even I. And I go to that destiny gladly."

As he vanished, the three Sentinels looked at one another.

"Hey," Jim nudged Jonny. "Come on. They're counting on us to anchor them. Brood later."

Jonny nodded and closed his eyes.

In the place beyond the door, Hadji joined his fellow Guides.

"You look better," Kaimi told him with obvious relief.

"Because here, sight is not the only means of perception. And as I said, appearances aside, I have not changed that much."

"Yes you have," Blair countered. "But we've got other stuff to worry about first."

The space shifted and bent and soon they could see the interior of the nuclear plant, the ten little robots curled up in the most dangerous places, all waiting to wreak havoc.

"I don't know anything about diffusing bombs," Kaimi said with wary concern.

"It is not necessary to know the mechanical specifics," Hadji replied. "It is only necessary to have the will."

"Well, I've got that covered anyway."

"Then let's use it," Blair decided, bending his whole mind on the task at hand. "We've got a lot of lives to save."

-==OOO==-

Eric was just settling one of the Sentinels who had lapsed from a deep zone into unconsciousness under an emergency blanket when he felt a presence at his elbow. He looked up to see Angie standing there, Melly tight to her side.

"We have to go," Melly said.

Eric gave the girls his full attention, carefully settling his gaze somewhere other than Angie's face, which always made her more comfortable. "Go where?" he asked.

"What do you know about Boreal Owls?" Angie asked suddenly.

Eric shrugged. "Not much. You showed me a picture once, right? Little tiny owl just like you?" He smiled at Melly who smiled back.

"Boreal Owls are very unique in that their ears are really asymmetrical," Angie said. "They can hear things and locate prey even normal owls can't find because they have a different means of comparing sound and pinpointing its source."

Lai approached from the other side of the little hill that concealed them. "Are you suggesting that Melly is able to perceive something uniquely, something maybe even the other Guides would miss?"

Angie shrugged but Melly looked up. "I don't know if I _Know_ things the way they do all the time, but I do _Know_ we need to go. I _Know_ how to help them now."

"Why right now?" Eric asked.

"Other things are happening," Melly said. "Other things that change what happens here."

Lai and Eric exchanged glances. "Not a lot else we can do out here just now," Lai said after a moment.

"It's dangerous in there," Eric warned, getting to his feet. "We could get hurt."

"People are getting hurt right now," Angie told them. "We're not scared. We're tribe."

Eric was pretty sure that his promise to look after the girls did not involve taking them into a battlefield. On the other hand, however else they were different, Angie was old enough to be able to choose for herself, and Melly, while technically still underage, was probably the pluckiest kid he'd ever met, and that included Jonny Quest who had been up to his ears in ten times worse trouble since he could walk, it seemed.

"Okay," he said. "But you stay behind me and if I say to run, you run. Got it?"

Both girls smiled at him. "Sure!"

Ten minutes later, Eric wasn't sure this was such a good idea. The cold, prickly fear that curled inside him as they peeked around too-quiet corners and into unseen corridors threatened to swamp him, and Eric knew he wasn't the only one scared. But the other three stayed resolutely with him, Angie advising on the movements of people nearby and Melly listening to something Eric was pretty sure she couldn't hear with her ears. Maybe with the owl's ears.

Suddenly Melly grabbed her Sentinel's arm. "Everybody's over there, right? Still fighting?"

"The people fighting are that way. Lots of injured or overwhelmed Sentinels are someplace else."

"Can you help us find a way to get where we can see the still fighting ones?"

"They're all together that way," Angie pointed. "In what sounds like a big room."

"The warehouse," Lai said. "Come with me." And she darted to the side for a stairwell. The door hung off its hinges as if it had been rammed, and probably it had. As the rest followed her, Eric bringing up the rear, he wondered how exactly Lai knew where she was going.

"Where are we going?" Melly asked before he could.

"This was clearly some kind of mail or shipping hub center, right?" Lai answered. "And Doctor Quest told us the office building connected to a hangar and a warehouse and stuff. Well, there's no way there weren't windows from the offices into the hangar and warehouse so managers could watch the operations. It'll be way safer to get up a level or two and then find the windows instead of trying to sneak into the room itself."

"How do you know there will be windows into the hangar?" Eric was impressed.

"Spend enough time with diplomats, you'll see the inside of a lot of secure shipping areas," Lai answered without looking back. "Sometimes shipments need special clearance to get through, so I grew up crawling around in warehouses waiting for a plane to get sorted so my mom could put her stamp on whatever it was."

Two flights up, they burst into a dimly-lighted open office floor with a broad window at the far side.

"Perfect!" Angie cheered as the girls raced for it.

"Stay low!" Eric warned them.

"Oh, come on!" Melly scowled at him. "They're Sentinels down there. Either they hear us up here already or they aren't paying enough attention to notice us anyway."

"Can't argue with that," Lai shrugged at him and they reached the window.

Peering down, there were the clear lines of a battle drawn in the space. It looked like the tribe and Benton had herded most of their remaining opponents into the big warehouse. The flickering power suggested that the automatic doors weren't in working order, and there were enough Sentinels from the tribe missing that it was most likely they were already outside forming a perimeter. Eric knew he could have asked Angie to confirm, but there seemed no point. It was bad enough that so many of the people he had come to consider his own were dodging bullets in the closed space.

And it hurt to see the tribe firing their guns at people who were probably allies when they weren't brainwashed too.

"So what's your idea?" Angie asked Melly.

"I think we were doing it the hard way before," Melly said, peering down. "How do I calm you down sometimes when you get scared?"

Angie furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

"Hadji and Blair were thinking about foxball when they came up with this way to help, because they knew that if you drive a stable spirit animal into the body of a Sentinel in trouble, it helps them reset, same as we already did for some of them before. But maybe that isn't the only way. Maybe it's the difference between unplugging a computer and turning it off. Their way is unplugging it, but maybe I can turn it off like I help you when you get scared."

"You…you don't put your owl in me," Angie said, eyes widening. "You put her into my spirit animal and _it_ makes me feel safer."

"And then you're more like you again." Melly nodded. "I have to try. It can't hurt and it might help."

"Go for it," Eric told her. "I'll let Doctor Quest know." He grabbed for his phone and typed furiously.

Beside him, Melly unfocused her eyes. In a moment, she could make out the spirit animals that differentiated Sentinels from soldiers below. To her surprise, there were only a few non-Sentinels left fighting – the vast majority of the two or three dozen individuals still up and resisting were Sentinels.

"Their spirit animals are gross!" she grimaced. "They look all rabid and crazy like when they gave that kid Marty those new meds for a week."

Angie squeezed her hand. "They're hurt and scared like he was, too."

"I hope I can fix them," Melly gulped. Her little owl burst into view before her. "Good luck, buddy," she whispered. Then, with an act of will, she sent the owl to dive into the nearest spirit animal she could see, a feral-looking dog. When the owl made contact, Melly and the Sentinel both shuddered.

"Is it working?" Angie asked anxiously.

Melly stared at the Sentinel's dog. It shook itself, staggered a little drunkenly, then looked up. Melly could see something in the dog's eyes, something she didn't have words to explain. But the dog sighed deeply and settled on the ground, slumping into a sudden sleep. As soon as its eyes closed, the Sentinel connected to it wavered on his feet and dropped his gun, sliding to the floor as if drugged.

"Kind of?" Melly answered. "It didn't fix him, but it brought him down gently."

"Keep doing it," Eric encouraged, putting a hand on her shoulder. "For as long as you can, keep doing it. If we can put them out, we can always get the tribe to work on them later."

"Hey," Angie said softly, squeezing the hand she held. When Melly looked up, Angie smiled shyly. "Remember how Doctor Quest said we're different and that's good? I guess he was right. If you weren't you, and if you didn't have to help me, you wouldn't have thought of that. The others didn't."

Melly smiled. "Guess so." Then she turned back to the window. "Tell Doctor Quest that anybody who isn't asleep in a few minutes isn't a Sentinel. I'll take care of the rest of them. Guides protect Sentinels."

As she sent her owl diving for the next spirit animal, she thought with great joy, _And I really am a real Guide_!

-==OOO==-

At the end of the pier, Howard let Race take point, pairing him with Daryl. It was a strategic decision and Race quirked a smile when Howard made it. _You just don't want Simon coming after you if the kid gets hurt. But that's fine. You've already been shot once, and Jessie's probably more familiar with this sort of thing, so she's the better backup for now. But one of these days, Daryl's going to get the training he wants and the pair of them will probably be unstoppable_.

Race glanced over the surroundings. A narrow barge had been tied up to the edge of the surviving dock, big enough to transport probably as many as four-hundred people in the dark hold that stood open. The tugboat that was already affixed to pull it was idling softly, almost inaudibly against the ongoing battle with the spider robots at their backs. Between the barge and the tugboat, there were too many places for three crafty Zins to hide.

 _But the tugboat would be their retreat_ , Race considered. _They could always cut themselves loose from the barge if something went wrong and abandon their cargo in the ocean. That's where any computers hooked to those bombs would be_.

Race signaled with his fingers that he and Daryl would head for the wheelhouse of the tugboat. Howard nodded and gestured for himself and Jessie to head onto the barge first to inspect it before coming in behind them.

Before they took another step, Race snagged his daughter's arm and crushed her against him in a hug. She held him back, and he took the opportunity not only to reassure himself, but to hit the discrete button hidden in the lining of the vest. It wasn't that he'd meant to keep the built-in white noise generators a secret from the kids so much as there hadn't been time to explain. And he wanted to be sure that if things went south, Jessie and Daryl would be able to vanish from the twins' ability to spot them; he'd already seen Howard subtly activate the button on Daryl's while they'd climbed on the rocks.

Releasing her, Race tipped his head to Daryl, who nodded solidly. But the young man took a moment to squeeze Jessie's hand while she leaned in to kiss his cheek before they parted.

 _Stalwart, brave, and loyal_ , Race thought as Daryl fell into position behind him. _My girl picked a good one_.

Race led the way along the pier to where there was a short jump to the aft deck of the tugboat. He made the leap himself easily, keeping watch while Daryl copied him, his longer legs and leaner frame lending him a catlike silence as he boarded. Race peeked around a corner, spotting a guard looking in the wrong direction. He gestured for Daryl to wait and crept forward.

Race didn't care if the guard was a Sentinel or not – he guessed not from his obliviousness – he got the guard in a sleeper hold and put him out before he could make a sound. There was nowhere to put the unconscious body, so he just let it drop.

"Come on," he whispered to Daryl.

As they climbed the stairs to the wheelhouse, Race drew his primary gun. Not the tranq. If Zin was waiting for them, Race wasn't going to take any chances this time.

 _I'm sure Doc wouldn't appreciate it. But I know we'll all sleep better if the man who killed Rachel, the man who has hunted our family for decades, goes down permanently tonight. I don't even feel bad about it. If I get the shot, I'm taking it. He never hurts the Quests again – ever_.

He steadied himself with a long deep breath and threw open the door. "Freeze!"

"Race Bannon." Doctor Zin turned from the computer array he'd set up on the control panel. "I'd say it's a surprise to see you, but it's really not."

"Stop the bombs, Zin." Race moved slowly into the space, eyes sweeping for danger but he saw no sign of other guards, the twins, or even any more robots.

"I must admit, I'm impressed that your little organization dared to cheat me," Zin smiled languidly. "I was under the impression that those so fond of their law-abiding allies would not so easily turn on the rules of fair play."

"If there's anything you should have learned about me, Zin," Race menaced, "it's that when you take ethics out of the situation, I'm willing to do whatever it takes."

"Ah, yes. And with precious Doctor Quest away, I imagine you had little choice but to resort to such barbaric tactics."

"Barbaric!" Daryl couldn't help but exclaim as he moved into the narrow room, filling the gap behind Race. "You're threatening to kill millions of people!"

"Unworthy people," Zin scoffed. "Their blood means nothing to me." Then he tipped his head. "You must be that son of the policeman. Current beloved of Jessie. I admire your courage, boy, but you have chosen the wrong side."

Before Daryl could get caught up in an argument, Race took another step forward. "The countdown, Zin! Stop it now!"

Zin shrugged. "I cannot. It's already begun. In less than an hour, a rain of nuclear radiation will fall over all those you swore so foolishly to protect and betrayed when you failed to abide by our deal."

Zin shifted slightly to one side and Race raised the gun a touch higher. "I know you can stop it. You wouldn't want to get caught in the blast."

"You're correct," Zin nodded, "but I am not as stupid as you, Bannon. I calculated the precise weather patterns and fallout probabilities. If you cease your meddling, I will be away and out to sea before the first of the radiation ever gets here." He looked sideways at Daryl. "You're young. You don't want to die of cancer, do you? I would offer you sanctuary with me, escape from the ruin that is coming."

"What, you mean if I shoot Race in the back?" Daryl scowled. "Not a chance."

"Your choice. But I really must be going."

"Without your daughters?" Race asked. "Even you're not that much of a monster."

"They'll be along directly. They're just finishing up exterminating some rats on my barge."

Race's heart dropped into his stomach.

"You wish to save your own daughter, Bannon? Lower your weapon and I will order them to spare her life." Zin crossed his arms, his face alight with satisfaction.

Race wanted to take the shot. He should have taken it the instant he'd burst in, perhaps. But with Jessie's life in the balance…he began to lower the gun slowly, rage burning through every vein.

"Very good," Zin purred. "Now you, boy."

Daryl nodded and slowly began to bring his own firearm down, dropping his left hand first while the right moved towards the ground. Daryl glanced at Race, eyes wide and dark. "I'm really sorry, Race."

There was a sharp _crack_.

Race was just starting to feel like sneezing when he realized Zin was coughing violently and stumbling where he stood. Race didn't wait to figure out what was going on – he jumped at Zin and swung his fist with all his strength.

"It'll fade fast!" Daryl shouted.

Some part of Race absorbed that information, and some part saw Zin staggering from the blow and turning with a gun in his hands in spite of the red swelling taking over his face. But most of Race's mind was fixed on thoughts of Benton, Jonny, Jessie, and Hadji.

He outdrew Zin in one motion and fired.

"What the hell was that?" Race demanded as he felt himself beginning to cough.

"Really old, _really_ cheap cologne," Daryl mumbled as he pinched his nose tightly. "Hadji told us that Zin was probably a partial Sentinel. But since nobody'd ever said anything about him hearing or seeing better than usual, I figured it was something else. Thought I should bring along a little present just in case and hoped it would do something." He sneezed. "Guess I was right."

"Yeah you were," Race approved. "Now you've got a job to do." Race tried to hold his breath and reached for where Zin had fallen, screaming. Without an ounce of remorse, Race turned the man over and locked his wrists behind him in cuffs that had been specially designed by Benton to be virtually unpickable. When Zin moved, a smear of blood followed from the knee Race had shattered.

"What do you need?" Daryl asked.

"I've got to secure this guy and see if I can hack his little bomb signal. You get out there to Jessie and protect her."

"Yes sir!"

As Daryl vanished out the door, Race turned Zin back over and hauled him up by his collar.

"You'll die for this, Bannon. That's a promise." Zin's face was pallid with pain, and Race was enjoying it far too much.

"Maybe," Race answered. "Maybe not." He shoved Zin to the side, dropping him to his knees, eliciting a cry of pain. With another set of cuffs, he attached Zin to the door handle. "I let you live, didn't I?"

" _You will die for this_!" Zin raged as he rocked to one side to keep from putting weight on his shattered knee.

"Wish I could shut you up the old-fashioned way," Race said, turning to the computer. "And don't get me wrong. Race Bannon has no issue _at all_ putting another few bullets in you." He paused to glance at the enemy he hated so much. "But the Quests don't kill if they can help it. The Quests are merciful."

"You're not a Quest," Zin snapped.

Race kicked the little vial of the horrible-smelling stuff closer to Zin, who promptly renewed coughing, his breath wheezing.

"Oh yes I am. Mostly, anyway," Race told him. "Now shut up. I've got work to do."

-==OOO==-

Melly let out a long breath and leaned her forehead against the wonderfully cool glass. "That's all of them," she said softly. "All the Sentinels are as calm as I can make them."

"Better than good enough," Eric told her. Lai was already calling Doctor Quest with the news.

"It's okay," Angie told her, rubbing her shoulder.

Melly shook her head – or, rather, since her head stayed stuck to the window with sweat, she sort of rocked her body back and forth instead. "No, it's not."

-==OOO==-

"What are you doing?" Rafe blinked.

"Look," Simon grunted, yanking at the breaker box's lid. "Those things go down with a big electromagnetic pulse. And without any spirit animals around, this is the closest thing we've got."

"Are you really going to overload the transformer?" Joel asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah. Now you and Brown go take off the safeties on the main one on the other side of the dock. With any luck, between the pair of them we'll get a big enough EMP to wipe the spiders out."

"We'll also get a huge explosion!" Henri pointed out.

"As long as it's over there!" Simon gestured to where the robots continued firing on the pinned agents.

-==OOO==-

Jessie looked up, breathing heavily. "Jonny told me to clock Anaya good for him," she said. "I can't tell you two apart, so I'm just counting on luck that that's you."

"Oh, I am Anaya," the Sentinel told her mockingly. "But I doubt you'll be able to keep your promise."

Jessie didn't have a response to that – not because she didn't want to snap back, but because she was just too out of breath to waste any. Anaya had only been fighting a few moments; Jessie and Howard had already had to take care of a handful of guards.

To one side, Howard gave a cry as the other Sentinel twin landed a solid blow on the arm that had already been wounded.

Jessie clawed her way back to her feet and attacked, launching herself at Anaya with fury. She'd lost her primary gun in the initial exchange, and she hadn't yet had time to draw another. But her elbow struck hard and Anaya, for all her Sentinel senses, couldn't dodge the inevitable.

"Sister!" yelled Melana, who grabbed Howard by his bad arm and flung him into the water with a splash. "We must finish this!"

"Gladly," Anaya recovered to face Jessie.

Jessie took a step back as the twins advanced on her. She was an able match for one, but not both.

"Don't move!" shouted Daryl, appearing at the edge of the barge, gun drawn.

"Aw," Anaya sneered. "Is your little boyfriend going to shoot us down?"

Jessie grinned. "Hell yeah he is!"

Jessie was in motion almost before the first shots sounded. She charged Anaya, fist cocked to slam. Even as she smashed Anaya's face with all her strength and felt the woman drop, Jessie whirled and finally drew her backup weapon. Daryl's gun barked again as Melana was charging, and Jessie added a shot of her own. The twins fell and did not rise.

"Are you okay?" Daryl asked, rushing over.

"Yeah," Jessie nodded, touching the side of her head gingerly where she knew she'd have a monster bruise in a few hours. She looked at him as he came up. "Nice shooting, sir. Three perfect hits."

Daryl glanced at the fallen twins. "How long do you think they'll be out?"

"Well, those darts were made for Sentinels. I wonder who will wake up first since Melana got two darts but Anaya got just the one and my bullet to the shoulder."

"Plus your right hook," Daryl took that hand, fingers skimming over the knuckles and feeling the broken skin. "Prettiest thing I've ever seen."

Jessie looked at him with a radiant smile. She opened her mouth to say something but heard a gurgled cry to one side. "Agent Fritz!" She and Daryl sprinted to where the agent was gamely keeping himself afloat in spite of his injury. Jessie grabbed the nearest length of chain and tossed it to him. Hand over hand, they hauled him back in.

"Are you all right, Howard?" Jessie asked as they eased the man to the deck.

He scowled at her. "I'm fine. I'm freezing and very annoyed."

"Annoyed why?" Daryl asked.

"Bannon's been keeping you two a secret. I knew you were good. I didn't know you were superb." He glared balefully at the pair. "Why aren't you already working for me?"

Daryl laughed but shook his head. "That's a great offer, Agent Fritz. And thanks. But I think I've gotta decline." His eyes shifted to Jessie and his expression softened. "It isn't that I don't want to wander all over the country with you, but I've got a family right here to protect."

Jessie blinked and then surged to him, kissing him hard. Just as suddenly, she broke away. "Marry me, Daryl."

Even stunned and surprised, Daryl managed to cock an eyebrow at her jauntily. "What, and live like this for the rest of my life?" he gestured around.

They barely noticed the explosion on shore, the triumphant yelling that carried across the water, the collapsing robots, or Howard rolling his eyes.

"Pretty much, yeah."

Daryl wrapped his arms around her. "Sounds like a good plan to me." He bent to kiss her again.

-==OOO==-

Unexpectedly, the three Guides abandoned the infinite place beyond the Door, rejoining their Sentinels waiting on the Seventh Step.

"What is it?" Jim asked, dizzy from the sudden transition.

"We got all the bombs defused but one," Blair answered, pale and shaken. "That last one…"

"Its proximity to the most potent source of radioactive material seems to have diminished our abilities to influence it in this way," Hadji finished. "We cannot stop it. It will go in a matter of moments, and when it does, the plume of radiation will spread for miles."

"Then we must escape," Ngama said, fixing an arm around Kaimi. "We must return to ourselves and flee. Perhaps we can warn…"

"They'll never get out in time," Kaimi shook her head. "There's too many people."

"And we can't just leave them," Jonny said. But his expression suggested he very much would prefer to abandon Cascade to their fate and run – not for himself, but to protect his Guide. Jim knew that look, and he knew he was wearing it, too. It wasn't that he didn't care about all the lives in danger. He just...cared about one specifically ahead of the rest.

"Sentinels protect Guides," Jim said softly. "You've done all you can. Nobody could have done more. Now you have to let us protect you."

"And leave millions in the path of destruction?" Hadji asked.

"I would lay down my life if it would help. We all would, I believe," Ngama said quietly. "But you have exhausted your powers and so have we. We can only do so much."

"Oh, come on!" Blair found himself yelling. The others looked at him in surprise.

"There's nothing left to try," Jim shook his head, but Blair glared at him.

"You're wrong! There _is_ something we can try! There _has to be_!" He put a hand on his chest. "Anybody remember 'there is nothing a united Sentinel and Guide cannot accomplish?' Well, there's _three_ sets of us here!"

"Yeah, but this…" Jonny trailed off.

It was Ngama who looked up with something like hope. "If we can manifest a creature of energy, though, perhaps there is a way to convert the dangerous energy that will emerge or banish it entirely. If you cannot stop the explosion, perhaps you can ameliorate the fallout instead."

"We have to try," Kaimi said, crossing her arms. "We _have_ to try."

The Temple roared around them and the six knew without knowing how or why that the bomb was in the process of scattering radiation in the real world. Time in the indigo world moved differently, but their time was short now.

"We will never know unless we open ourselves to the possibility," Hadji said. "I believe Blair is right. And there is too much at risk to fail to give all we have to any possible solution, no matter how remote the chances."

Jim looked at all the faces turned towards him. Somehow, it had been so much easier as a captain in the Army. Then, he wasn't fighting battles on planes of existence he didn't even fully grasp. But there was no other Sentinel to decide. This was his tribe, his people, his city. His choice.

Jim looked to the only source of guidance – of Guidance – he believed in. Blair grinned at him.

"We can do it, man," he said solidly. His face was bright in the illumination of the Temple Steps. "Trust us."

And in spite of the sheer impossibility, he did. "Okay."

Blair reached out his hands, palms up. Hadji and Kaimi moved to face him, each setting a hand in his and curling their fingers together tightly, and somehow Hadji was solid enough for him to hold. Jonny exchanged a look with Hadji that was theirs alone before he stepped to his brother's side, anchoring him by lacing together the fingers of Hadji's free hand with both of his own and curling himself around the Guide. Ngama wrapped his arms around Kaimi's waist and held her against his chest. Blair glanced at Jim, a tiny crack in his composure revealing his fear.

"I'm here, Chief," Jim said under his breath, moving behind his Guide and putting both his hands on Blair's shoulders, holding him almost tight enough to bruise. "Go for it."

The three Guides nodded solemnly and looked to one another.

"I believe in us," Kaimi whispered, her eyes drifting closed. She reached her free hand around to grasp Hadji's extended wrist.

"I believe fate is with us," Hadji said softly, closing his eyes as well.

"I believe in our future," Blair's voice caught. He tipped his head forward and moved the hand holding Kaimi's to wrap around Hadji's, Kaimi's resting atop them, a tangle of five interconnected hands linked in a complex knot.

Jim wished he knew exactly what they were doing. Why did Hadji only have one hand in the pile and how was he corporeal now when he wasn't before? Why was Blair so afraid? How did they all seem to know what would come next already? Why were they doing it here instead of beyond the Seventh Door?

" _There are secrets beyond the Seventh Door_ ," he almost heard the echoed memory remind him, " _which only those truly gifted may touch. Trust ye the Holy Seven_."

A tremor ran through the three Guides, their Sentinels instinctively holding on more tightly.

"There is a fine line between to know and to change," Hadji's voice sounded oddly distant, ever so much more so than it had been when he was merely see-through. "Ours is to Know. Ours is to Guide. Through Guidance, so shall Change be wrought."

Jim's skin started to prickle around him as though he were standing in the center of an electrical storm. His senses began to expand, undulating from his control like the waves tossing a boat on the sea. Against the onslaught, he closed his eyes, not that he could really block out his senses in the indigo Temple.

And then everything shifted, and it was as if they were floating over the nuclear power plant like clouds. Jim's eyes were open or else he could see without his sight – it hardly mattered – and he could perceive the waves of radiation rising from where a tiny tendril of smoke curled upwards. He looked for the Guides and found them, like spheres of light, circling and descending upon the afflicted area.

As they descended, he could feel something in their connection, their bond, straining.

"Chief!" he shouted into the wind, an inexplicable panic gripping him.

"It is his choice," intoned a voice beside him. Incacha appeared, looking solemn.

"What is?" Jim demanded.

"All things exist in balance, Enqueri. When a Guide summons a creature of power, it draws on their life-force to sustain itself, and should the Guide lack the strength to endure, the price of such summoning will be death. To turn back this much greater storm, the Guides must risk all, including their very souls. There can be no bond between a Sentinel and a Guide if the Guide is unmade."

"No way!" Jim denied. "I'm not losing my Guide again!"

"Then do not fight him. Lend him your power."

"I don't have any of this kind of power," Jim frowned.

"You do. A true Sentinel must be able to reach through the Seventh Door, even if only with one finger, to touch the Shaman within. A true Sentinel…"

"Is possessed of not five senses, but Seven," Jim finished. "What does that _mean_?"

Suddenly there was a fox at one side, and a honey badger on his other. They looked at him with expressions that spoke as clearly as if their Sentinels had shouted: _Follow us_.

Jim felt himself flow into the jaguar. And when he lifted his head, he did understand. Uninhibited now, he dove or flew through the space that divided them. He could smell and hear the wolf, even if he couldn't see him. And he knew the wolf would be lost once more if he had to act alone.

"I'm here!" the jaguar screamed.

And he threw himself into Blair's soul to give him everything he had, anything it took to protect and empower his Guide. Even his life.

It wasn't enough.

-==OOO==-

"Benton! What's the good word? I hope it's a good word," Race knew he was almost shouting into the phone but he didn't care.

"We're fine," Benton answered. "We've liberated many of the Sentinels from their brainwashing, although they will all need much more time and probably the work of our other Guides to eradicate it all."

"Any injuries?"

"Nothing too serious. You?"

"Howard got a bad graze and Brown managed to get a piece of shrapnel through his foot and nobody knows how," Race shook his head. "That's it, though."

"And Zin?" Benton's voice was a mix of hesitant and cold.

"He's alive. So are the twins. But they're not going to be going anywhere any time soon," Race reported. A part of him still wished he'd aimed his shot higher and made it final, but the relief at being able to tell Benton he had not killed in the name of the Quests was strong, too.

"So it's just a matter of the others then."

There was a slight commotion on the other end of the line and Race frowned. "Doc? What's going on?"

"Hang on." More commotion. Then Benton's voice came back, breathless. "Melly's just nearly passed out, screaming about Blair and Hadji and Kaimi. How fast can you get to that plant?"

"I can send Jessie and Daryl ahead in the chopper that just set down. They'll be there in a few minutes." Race's heart was slamming into his ribcage, but he couldn't, even for that, take his eyes off of Zin – just in case.

"Send them fast." Benton's voice had gone thin and unsteady. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

Race hadn't even ended the call before he was bellowing for the chopper.

-==OOO==-

Blair knew now what oblivion meant.

 _I'm so sorry_ , he pleaded with what was left of himself to plead. _We tried so hard, but there's just too much of it. Billions and trillions and uncountable particles. We can't hold back a star's power. And our failure means lives. And our souls_.

Blair didn't know if anyone could hear him. He didn't know if Hadji and Kaimi were even still coherent beings or if they had already been lost forever. He didn't know if Jim could hear him, if Jim was still connected to him or if he, too, had been obliterated.

 _This is what Hadji saw_ , Blair knew with terrible sorrow. _Our failure. And our territory will suffer and die. Our tribe will suffer. And our Sentinels will be torn apart when the bond is severed. More than kill them – it will annihilate them. And us. Because we were not enough to prevent it_.

And then there was a burst of something warm and powerful.

 _Jim_?

 _Don't give up, Chief. We're not done yet_.

If Blair had had a body, he would have wept. _God, Jim, you're alive_!

 _I don't know about that, but I'm still with you, and that's what matters, right_?

 _Right_.

 _So, quit being sorry and get to work! How do we make this right_?

Blair didn't know. But the warmth of Jim's spirit, his determination, and his love, his profound love for his Guide was infusing new energy and courage where Blair had been filled with despair. _Are the others still...you know? Whole_?

 _Dunno. There's nothing but you here_.

That was a problem. Blair wanted to look for them, but how do you look for something non-corporeal when you're also non-corporeal and beyond the bounds of space anyway?

 _You cannot look for that which cannot be found. You can only know that it is there and your faith shall prove you correct_.

Blair and Jim reacted together with joy. _Hadji_!

 _We are both safe, as are Ngama and Kaimi. We are all safe. And if you can trust yourselves, we have one last hope_.

Jim and Blair didn't even pause to consider. _Whatever it is, we're with you_.

 _Blair, do you recall when you and I merged for a time in order to endure that which was beyond us_?

 _Yes_.

 _We must do that again. All of us. All six of us. Because together, we are more than the sum of our parts. Together, we may be equal to the task before us. But there is a risk_.

 _Let me guess. If we merge, we might never unmerge again, like how you and I overlapped for a while there_.

 _You are correct. Only you can decide if the risk is worth the chance_.

Blair knew his answer, but he wasn't sure of Jim's. He needn't have doubted. Jim's presence and love wrapped even more warmly around his soul and cradled it.

 _I love you, Blair. I love you enough to risk us both for what we are meant to serve_.

 _Thanks, Jim_. Blair relished in the feeling, unfathomable, indefinable, of wholeness and serenity and rightness and completion. _If this can't save the world, if this connection and our destiny and everything else can't make the difference, then there's nothing in creation that could because there's nothing stronger than this. There couldn't be_.

 _You are right, my friend. And it is this which shall make all the difference. Let go and enter into the path that is before us_.

Barriers fell, divisions and memories and fears and hesitation melted away. Blair became Jim, became Hadji, became Jonny, became Ngama, became Kaimi. Memories, feelings, all things that define gave way into a boundless union.

And then there was oneness.

Mind and matter. Will and fate. Self and other.

All became one.

Enlightenment, truth, change, knowledge. Fluid as water, ancient as the universe.

Mortal courage, mortal hope was made infinite, made manifest.

The Six had become Seven.

-==OOO==-

As the chopper came in low near the nuclear plant, the DHS agent piloting it relayed a message through the headsets to his passengers.

"I've just been told that the area is clean. The radiation was off the charts a few minutes ago, but somehow it's gone now. My own instruments confirm it. I don't think I want to know how that's possible."

Jessie and Daryl exchanged glances – not of astonishment, but fear.

"We have to find them!" Jessie yelled into her microphone.

"The plant says they left right before the meltdown, but they didn't take their car very far."

"There!" Daryl pointed. The sweeping lights of the chopper as it had been coming in for a landing hit a grassy clear spot on the rise above the plant, revealing six still bodies.

"Get us down there as fast as you can!" Jessie cried with terror.

When they hit the ground, the pair didn't wait for help or even for the plant's own volunteers to join them – they just charged towards the hill, grateful that the pilot had given them each big flashlights for the darkness. But the clouds were clearing away, revealing a bright moon that lit the scene with a cold, eerie light of its own.

Gasping, shaking so badly they both lost footing and flashlights on the climb, they rushed to their friends.

"Oh my god!" Daryl dropped to his knees beside Blair, eyes raking over the six still, lifeless bodies. He reached down to turn Blair onto his back.

"Don't!" Jessie said, catching his hand in her own before he could touch the Guide.

"I have to…they're not…" Daryl's panic was growing. How could he even attempt to do CPR on six people at once? Who would he choose to try to save, if he could save them at all?

"Remember what Hadji told us!" Jessie insisted, pulling at him. She pointed to the three Guides and where their hands were tightly entwined though the rest of their bodies were slack. "Life is a constant, no matter the vessel for it. Think! They're alive if they are together somewhere!"

"But where?" Daryl asked. He allowed her to yank him back and away, and he clung to her hands as the only source of certainty left. Distant shouting echoed strangely in the night.

" _Where_ doesn't matter. All that matters is…" she gulped.

-==OOO==-

Oneness. Unity.

But to live as one would cause pain to those who were loved. Those to whom promises had been made.

To return, then. Or die trying. The choice was made.

Then.

 _We won't die. I know the way home._

-==OOO==-

Then Jessie's face lit up. "Look!"

Daryl turned in time to see the three Guides all twitch simultaneously, their chests finally rising in a slow breath made clear by the luminous moonlight.

"They'll be all right," Jessie gasped, and she leaned against him in sudden relief.

"But Jim and Jonny and Ngama!" Daryl protested. "They're still not breathing!"

"They'll be all right," she repeated. "Because if one dies, both die. But…"

"When one lives," Daryl finished, staring. "Both live."

And the three Sentinels began to breathe.

Blair blinked open his eyes. He tipped his face to the heavy weight across his back. "J…Jim?"

"I'm here," Jim coughed. "I'm still here, Chief."

"I think…we cut it a little close that time, Hadj," Jonny said around a dry, raspy throat.

"Closer than we have ever been before, my brother."

"We couldn't have done it alone," Kaimi whispered. "You saved us."

"We will always save you," Ngama said warmly. "As you saved us."

"But did it really work?" Jim wanted to know.

The three Guides squeezed their hands where they were still connected before letting go, each curling into their Sentinels exhaustedly. It was Hadji who lifted his head with enough spark in his face to answer them, as well as to smile faintly at Jessie and Daryl.

"There is truly nothing united Sentinels and Guides cannot accomplish. Together, we have done the impossible. Everything's going to be all right."


	14. Chapter 14

Hi everyone!

So, this is the last chapter of Arc 4, though not quite the last bit of the series. There will be a oneshot I'll put up somewhere between Dec 24th and Dec 25th to wrap things up. And, because I can't seem to help it, on Dec 31st I'll put up something extra (on AO3 only since meta-writing isn't welcome on FF): a behind-the-scenes series of points, outtakes, some of my thinking, and a few shout-outs. Basically, your DVD extras.

But this is the big conclusion of the 4 major Arcs. I've gotta tell you, I'm half terrified. This has been such a journey for me, from the opening of Arc 1 way back in January to now. But really, it goes all the way back to February 2014 when I began the writing and planning of this beast.

Funnily enough? The last scene of this chapter was one of the earliest I ever wrote, probably before I'd even gotten halfway through Arc 1. Because that's how I roll.

I hope you all have enjoyed this. I hope it adds something to The Sentinel fandom and I hope it has given something to you. I'll see you for the oneshot and the extras, but I hope I see you around other fandoms and other series again, too.

Until then, take care and, as always...

Enjoy!

* * *

In the direct aftermath of what was later dubbed The Epic Zindig (whose name was born when Lai called the whole adventure a 'shindig' and Kaimi misheard it due to being mostly asleep at the time), two distinct groups of people were formed: those who could remain awake and those who could not.

For the first thirty or so hours, the six Sentinels and Guides who had somehow done the impossible to literally eradicate all the radiation – including completely neutralizing the exposed material and nobody wanted to think too hard about how exactly – were joined in the former group by Melly, Angie, and few of the SELF Sentinels who had pushed too far with their spirit animals. Jim was able to remain awake exactly long enough to oversee dragging a couple of mattresses into the living room of the apartment at the lodge he shared with Blair, installing Jonny and Hadji on one, Kaimi and Ngama on the other, and then collapsing into his bed with Blair tangled at his side. The other five of them had only managed consciousness enough to assure the nearest friends that they were unhurt and to stagger where they were led.

Jim didn't bother to explain why he wanted Blair in the bed with him, why he wanted the other two pairs within yards, line-of-sight, and behind a door he could personally secure, but he did and nobody dared argue with him.

This left most of the immediate work of cleanup in Cascade to the non-Sentinel members of SELF as the rest of the tribe was trying to deal with the situation in Astoria. Benton was near frantic to get back to Cascade to check on his sons, but the hundreds of conscious, confused, and frightened Sentinels needed him more. Thankfully, Howard Fritz commandeered the local police and Coast Guard resources nearest the site in Astoria and soon the place was filling up with blankets, water, and the means to transport everyone to the lodge in Cascade as soon as possible.

At the same time, Race, Simon, and Joel personally handled the transfer of Doctor Zin, Anaya, and Melana to federal custody. The three men went with Fritz's agents to the federal secure location selected to hold them. He would deny it later, but Race and Joel swore that Simon actually warned the _entire_ guard staff of the facility that if they allowed the Zins to escape he would _personally_ ruin their lives in such frightening terms that several agents left the encounter shaking.

Some of his anger was likely because it was discovered in the aftermath at the dock that Lee Brackett had apparently slipped away during the fight and was in the wind once more. And if Simon's mood was anything to go by, the only thing worse than Brackett escaping was the fact that he'd have to tell Jim about it eventually.

With Benton in Astoria and Simon, Race, and Joel otherwise occupied, Daryl and Jessie assumed the mantle of leadership at the lodge itself. It was they who settled the six exhausted Sentinels and Guides in Jim's room and ensured there was ready food and water available before they permitted themselves to be locked out. They also initiated the return of the non-combatant members of the tribe, and when Meilin drove up in a bus with those she had spirited away, they explained as much of the story as they could while returning the displaced tribe to their home.

And they hacked the security to let Bandit into Jim's room for the pup to curl up on Jonny's stomach and bury his nose under Hadji's arm. If Jim or anyone else noticed, they didn't even wake fully for the intrusion.

Henri Brown was obliged to go to the hospital to deal with the length of shrapnel in his foot, but he sent Brian by fast helicopter to Astoria to look after Angie and Melly and to back up Benton, Eric, Lai, and Leilani. After Howard Fritz returned from the federal detention facility and before he allowed himself to enter the hospital for treatment, he made all the appropriate arrangements with various local, state, and federal authorities for a full debriefing (wherein the meaning of "full" would change depending upon his audience, of course) and ensured that the state of emergency was canceled for the city. He also put his considerable forces under the direct command of the individuals he most trusted – Benton, Race, Simon, Joel, Jessie, and Daryl – and ensured that the SELF team would have whatever support they needed. And even when he returned from the hospital, Fritz himself took a turn on the perimeter at the lodge as much as to ensure its security as to ease the mind of the depleted Sentinels and Guides within.

His own report to his superiors was vastly assisted by the pair of brothers previously working for Zin who, when they had been overrun by Sentinels, proved willing to surrender peacefully and immediately turn as much state's evidence as they could – as long as it assured them a cell far, far away from Zin and his daughters.

It took Benton a full two days of non-stop effort to purge the base in Astoria of anything he did not want to hand to the DHS and to get the Sentinels who had been there ready to head north. While he did so, the rest of the SELF members and affiliates on site moved through the Sentinels who had been brainwashed, offering what comfort and explanation they could. Without restraint, the Sentinels of Cascade offered their abducted and tortured brothers and sisters sanctuary at the lodge and membership in their group – if not permanently, at least until the last vestiges of the psychological damage had been eradicated. By the time the tribe, now more than doubled in size, arrived in Cascade on the morning of the third day, the worst of the mess made by the robots had been cleared from the lodge and things were slowly returning to normal to welcome the many newcomers.

And Jim, Blair, Jonny, Hadji, Kaimi, and Ngama were finally awake and coherent just in time to greet them.

When the bus pulled up to a stop and Benton saw his sons standing on the front step, he forgot for a few minutes that he was the first stability and assurance the new Sentinels from Astoria had in the world in which they had woken. All he saw was his boys and all he knew was a desperate need to see for himself that they were all right.

Benton was out of the bus before the door was fully open, and he caught his boys in a tight embrace, feeling warm tears on his cheeks.

"Jonny. Hadji. My sons. I was so worried. Are you all right?" he gasped at them around a thick lump in his throat.

Jonny returned the hug, letting out a breath of his own. "Yeah, we're okay. It was kind of a near miss, but we're okay. Are you alright, dad?"

"Yes, Jonny. I'm fine," Benton assured him. But the stiffness and silence of his other son worried him and Benton drew back a bit to gaze at Hadji. "Hadji? Are you…?" He didn't know how to end the question.

"Doctor Quest," Hadji said quietly, not looking at his father, "there is something we must discuss. But this is not the time." Finally he raised his eyes to meet Benton's with an empty look. "But I am…so very gratified that you are all right."

Benton only had a few seconds to be stricken before suddenly Jim and Blair were there, Jim thumping him on the shoulder and Blair inquiring about everything from his health to the new Sentinels to the files Benton had liberated. He scarcely recognized he was being neatly distracted until he realized his arms were empty and Ngama and Kaimi were drawing Jonny and Hadji away to greet the rest of the many Sentinels converging upon them and begin the extremely onerous process of sorting out an all new tribe hierarchy.

But Jonny glanced back at his father and gave him a small smile, a smile Benton knew the meaning of well. _It's not okay right now, but it will be and I'm not worried_.

And then the chaos of the moment broke upon him and Benton didn't have time to think about himself while the original tribe was reclaiming their home and the new Sentinels were finding a place for themselves in it.

-==OOO==-

The days and weeks to come were a kaleidoscope of chaotic moments and sweet ones between unending efforts to right all that had gone wrong.

-==OOO==-

It was Hasna who sought out Howard a day later.

"Why are you still here?" she asked him, not catching him off-guard because he had been standing watch on the front gate and so he wasn't off-guard, but surprising him nonetheless.

Still, he smiled at her. "Your tribe just turned aside one of the most dangerous terrorist attack attempts ever made in the history of this nation. My superiors are running around trying to secure against any future similar risk and pat themselves on the back for a job well done. But they know that they didn't do anything to stop this. You did. SELF served this country, and the least we can do is serve your tribe in return."

"That's why the DHS is still helping with cleanup and border-guards," Hasna shook her head. "What I want to know is why are _you_ out _here_?"

"Ah." Howard looked out at the trees, at the path that led to the road and the outside world. "I gave orders that all my personnel should stay at the fringes of the complex for now. I thought that might be easier for everybody. There's a lot of scared people in there."

"Not scared of you," Hasna told him.

"Of me? Maybe not. But of what I represent? I think a lot of our new friends have had enough of men in suits who come from looming, shadowy organizations."

Hasna sighed. "I'm sorry that's what you think. Because it's not what we think." She held out a heavy envelope.

Fritz accepted it with a quizzical look. Opening it, he found a piece of paper folded around a thick packet. The outer layer appeared to be a tally of some kind. It was overwhelmingly weighed on one side of the issue. Then he read the cover of the other.

 _It is the decision of the Cascade Tribe, hereafter named the Tribe of Seven Stars, to offer membership to the individuals listed below. This decision is made not by the Tribe's Council, but by a popular vote. From this day forward, all who are brothers and sisters to us, Sentinels, Guides, and neither, regardless of their official status with SELF or any other government or organization, shall be considered now and forever as full members of this Tribe and family_.

"Turn the page," Hasna said softly.

Howard traced his fingers over the first names: _Benton Quest, Race Bannon, Simon Banks, Joel Taggart, Jessie Bannon, Daryl Banks, Henri Brown, Brian Rafe, Lai Gardner, Eric Faulk, Leilani Waihee, Howard Fritz_.

"The rest of the packet lists all the new Sentinels who asked for sanctuary and everybody else who is a part of everything here. It's strange, but out of three hundred people, once they were freed of Zin's control, not one of the Sentinels from Astoria rejected our offer. Seems like everybody believes in the Tribe. Including you, Agent Fritz."

He looked up, blinking unexpectedly. "I don't…"

"And the Tribe believes in you," Hasna finished. "It was ratified this morning. The Council appreciates your dedication to our security, but really? Right now we'd like you to join us. We trust you have left us in good hands out here."

Howard hesitated. "I appreciate the gesture, I really do. However – "

"However _nothing_ ," Hasna interrupted. Then, more gently, "Race told me you have never married, Agent Fritz. Is that correct?" At his nod, she continued, "But if you had, you would have found yourself tied to a new family of in-laws. They would not see it as a gesture. They would see it as fact. And your job or your position would mean nothing. While you are an agent of this government, you may be prohibited from joining SELF, but that does not prevent you from marrying into a family."

"Or being elected into a family," Howard said, trying for wry humor. He mostly succeeded.

"Refuse us if you wish. But you won't."

"I won't?"

"No," Hasna stepped forward and pointed at his chest. "You and I are alike in the heart. We love these people because they are what we did not have. My family disowned me for my insanity, and to them I am dead. But this Tribe sees me for what I truly am and that is all I need. And the Tribe sees you, Agent Fritz. They have called you home. Will you not come?"

Howard stood, his face relaxing into a rare smile. "When you put it that way, I think I will."

-==OOO==-

When Fritz later submitted his report to his superiors, a lengthy, detailed missive on all the events of the emergency and the Sentinels' responses and the continuing situation, he did admit that he "had been offered a greater measure of trust and connection on a personal level" but he felt certain he could adequately remain as the advocate and handler for the SELF organization without bias. He requested permission to remain at his post and continue to serve the government as well as the Sentinel assets.

The response he received from the Secretary of Homeland Security was less carefully stated:

"Move in there if you have to. Go native. We'll pay your moving expenses and buy the place a fern. But for God's sake, figure out how to get these people to be willing to help us out here someday!"

Howard took them seriously. He moved in within the month.

-==OOO==-

That evening, Benton caught up with Race sitting alone out under a tree in an isolated part of the back gardens. A place where, Benton noticed, Race had a view of the entire back of the lodge, his own lab at the other end of the compound, and the basketball court where most of the Chancery group was energetically working off some tension by playing a night pickup game.

"I meant to ask you," Benton eased onto the bench beside his best friend. "About Zin."

"Yeah?" Race asked neutrally.

"I know you, Race. I know you wanted to kill him. It might even have been safer for all of us." Benton lowered his voice. "So why didn't you?"

"Maybe I never got the chance," Race said with an easy shrug.

Benton shook his head. "You had the chance. I know you did."

Race let out a long breath. "It was because of Rachel."

That brought Benton up short. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe you wouldn't have blamed me for taking Zin out," Race answered. "Maybe nobody would have. Jim would have _thanked_ me, probably. And if Zin or his girls ever get loose, Jim's going to take them down before they even see him coming."

Benton nodded with a small smile. "You're definitely right about that."

"But…when it came to it…you would have understood if I'd killed him." Race finally turned to him. "But you wouldn't have liked it. And Rachel…she wouldn't have wanted it, either."

"No, she wouldn't," he agreed.

"I never met her. I never got the chance to know the woman who changed you so much and who gave us Jonny," Race said softly. "I never got to tell her how grateful I am for that, for what she made out of both of you for me. But I could give her Zin's life, and maybe somewhere she knows how much that means."

"I think," Benton put a hand on Race's shoulder and squeezed, "Rachel would understand that gift profoundly, and she would regard it above any other you could give. Except maybe one."

"What's that?"

"Our lives," Benton said. "Mine and Jonny's and Hadji's. You've saved us, too." He looked out at the kids laughing, finally seeming more like themselves for the first time in a long time. "We saved each other in the end. Yes, she would understand, Race."

"Good. I'm glad you do too, Doc."

"That was never a concern," Benton told him. "If there's one thing I know for sure, no matter what happens, is you are a good man, Race Bannon. The best I've ever known."

Race swallowed around a suddenly tight throat. He didn't have anything to say, so he let his silence as they watched their children, their family, play together, speak all the words he would never be able to offer his best friend in return.

-==OOO==-

A few days later, Brian and Henri were sitting on the couch, Henri keeping his bandaged foot elevated, and bickering comfortably about which cop show to watch and happily ridicule when their girls came in, oddly quiet.

"What's up?" Brian asked gently.

"We have something to tell you," Angie didn't look at her brother.

"We're listening," Henri offered, watching Melly fidget with her prosthetic foot as she always did when she was nervous.

Angie glanced to Melly, who looked up with the same defiant courage she'd shown the first day she'd met them. "Angie and I are read to bond."

"You…are?" Brian asked.

"Yes," Melly nodded.

"And do you know what that entails?" Henri asked.

"Kaimi explained it to us," Angie offered. "Ours is…like hers and Ngama's. And not just 'cause we're not dying. 'Cause we love each other like that and always will."

Henri and Brian glanced at one another. This aspect of their sisters' relationship was not news to them, though they had wondered if the girls really understood all that it meant. Apparently they thought they did.

"I thought you wanted to wait until Melly was ready?" Brian asked carefully.

"Well, yeah," Melly said. "But I am ready. I'm a real Guide now. I'm not like the other Guides exactly, and that's okay. I get it now. And Angie's my Sentinel and I love her and we're going to be together forever and it's time for us to bond."

"So…why are you telling us?" Henri wanted to know. "You don't need our permission, if you're worried about that."

The girls both wrinkled their noses at him. "Duh," Angie said, grinning at him. "If we wanted to ask if it was okay, we'd have done it a long time ago."

"But we do want to ask you something," Melly continued. "Someday Kaimi and Ngama will get married. And Leilani says she's already Ngama's mom and stuff. And we know you're both of our brothers already. But…when we want to get married…"

"'Cause we will," Angie added with a firm nod.

"…Will you both walk us down the aisle together?" Melly finished in almost a whisper.

Henri didn't move until Angie stepped forward and touched his brown cheeks, her fingers coming away wet with a tear. Brian turned to him. "What do you think, partner? Or should I say 'brother' instead?"

"Definitely brother," Angie told him.

Henri looked at his little family with a blossoming swell of pride. "I can't think of anything I'd rather do for the rest of my life," he told the girls.

"Good," Angie nodded. Then she grabbed Melly's hand. "Let's go."

"You didn't mean _right now_ , did you?" Brian called after them. "How soon are you going to bond?"

"On Melly's birthday," Angie said. "So we have seven weeks to practice everything else before then." And they vanished into their bedroom and shut the door firmly.

Brian Rafe felt his face go red. "Oh god."

Henri hiccupped a mix of a laugh and a gulp and something to do with the tears that were still sneaking out. "What do you say we turn on the white noise generator and go downstairs for a while?"

Together, they beat a strategic, slightly awkward retreat.

-==OOO==-

When that bit of news became common knowledge around the lodge, most people nodded happily or expressed surprised pleasure. The only outlier was Eric.

"You mean Sentinels aren't…weird about…you know?" he asked.

Kaimi and Ngama were the ones sharing the news, and Kaimi tipped her head at him curiously, twirling the long front strand she had recently re-dyed a bright green. "What do you mean?"

"Uh, well, you know. Sentinels are kinda old-school about tradition and rank and everything, and I know it's all cool about me and being gay, but I didn't know if…"

Ngama shook his head and put a hand on Eric's arm. "You, my friend, are truly an idiot."

"Am I?" Eric asked. "I guess maybe I am, but…"

"Well," came Jonny's voice as he joined them, Bandit trotting at his heels. "Put it this way. _If_ anybody has a problem, and they probably don't, but _if_ they do, they'll have to take it up with me. Personally." Jonny grinned ferally.

"Are you offering to use your newly-won position as the Tribe's second-in-command for personal gain?" Ngama asked, his face an arch mockery of shock.

"Nope," Jonny shook his head. "For the right thing."

Eric visibly relaxed. "Oh wow. Thanks, Jonny. So…"

"Oh, for the love of!" came a new voice. Blair sauntered over, phone in hand. "Chris got back into town from his expedition yesterday, didn't he?"

Eric nodded, face reddening.

"Good. Call him. Invite him over," Blair tossed him the phone. "I'll get Joel to start the paperwork. We could use more anthropologists around here, anyway."

And then he was away, off to wrangle another problem in the Tribe, as it seemed he was always doing lately.

"That easy, huh?" Eric asked, looking abashedly at his friends.

"Yup," Kaimi told him with a smile.

"If it isn't a world-ending crisis, we're all pretty easy going," Jonny said with a shrug. "And if somebody's not, well, that's why Jim and I are around."

"I knew having you for a roommate was a good idea," Eric said, pulling Jonny into a headlock and scruffing his hair while Bandit barked happily.

-==OOO==-

Joel caught Simon in his office. "So, had any thoughts about what we talked about?" he strode in.

Simon looked up from the piles around him with a scowl. "Taggart, you're going to have to be a lot more specific than that. In the last three hours I think we've talked about whether or not we need to build new bungalows, where we can find some more sensory teachers so you and Blair and Hadji don't have class sizes in the hundreds, how to set up a regular patrol that gets everybody involved but doesn't ruffle any feathers from the previous perimeter teams, and how many vehicles we need to buy so everybody can get around."

"You're forgetting about the six different pairs of Sentinels who turned out to have a spirit animal in common and are upstairs right now...working out their Sentinel sickness," Joel added with a wry look. "At least this time the worst that'll happen is a half-dozen new members of the Tribe showing up in about nine months."

Simon glared. "What, exactly, do you want?"

Joel smiled faintly. "That's a lot of work for a man who isn't ready to be more than a part-time volunteer."

Simon's glare fizzled. "The Chief gave me until next week, but I don't know how I'm going to get enough done here to be ready to leave it with you and Sandburg and Benton. There's just so much."

"I know," Joel leaned on the back of the chair across from Simon's desk. "And I'm not going to pressure you to leave the PD just yet. I know that would kill you."

"It might," Simon admitted. "It's my career."

"Sure it is," Joel nodded. "But this here? This is your life, Simon."

He straightened up and turned to go. At the door-frame, he glanced back. "Take it from me. The good you can do on the job? It's real, Banks. You're the best captain in Cascade and everybody knows it. But when you're ready to realize that the good you can do here for people who won't play politics with you and will be there to look out for you _for the rest of your life_ to say nothing of Daryl's…well, we'll be ready for you, too."

He breezed out and Simon sighed.

 _I wonder if I'll even make it a year. At this rate, I won't make it a month_.

And somehow, he couldn't make himself feel entirely sorry about that.

-==OOO==-

The tableau of normalcy and relief cracked a few times too.

-==OOO==-

Dominik arrived at the lodge ten days after The Epic Zindig. Yosyp, the Sentinel with the same spirit animal as Jonny, had elected to remain at his post in Fokino after receiving a promotion, which allowed Dominik to leave the service officially. He had wanted to come in the immediate aftermath where Ivanna and the others had died, but Jim had advised him to hold his position and guard over the Sentinels who had already returned to Russia either to their duties or to retire in comfort with their senses under control. Now, however, Dominik had decided the time had come for him to more directly assist in the efforts of SELF and to join the Tribe that was the future of the Sentinel people.

He managed to arrive in time for Dmitri's funeral.

As with the previous recent occasion, Dmitri was laid out in honor on a clear day in the garden. The Tribe flowed around him, the Sentinels assuring themselves that he was gone and bidding him farewell. In their wake, the four Guides of the Tribe and their Sentinels ringed the body, the Guides silently enacting their own ritual. Those who had never known him attended as well, standing respectfully to the side and honoring a man who had been one of theirs.

At last, Jim stepped to his place at the head of the body, Blair at his side. Glittering in the sunlight on both of their chests were the medals Dmitri and Ivanna had bestowed upon them only scant weeks before. In fact, all eight recipients wore their medals proudly for this.

"Dmitri hated speeches," Jim said quietly. "And he would hate that we are quiet today for him. He would want us to go inside and drink and remember him doing the right thing. And we're going to do that," Jim managed a terrible smile. "But first, I have asked Hadji to speak."

Hadji lifted his head and moved away from Jonny. He skimmed his brown hand over Dmitri's body, coming to rest over his still chest.

"Dmitri gave his life to spare mine," he said heavily. "He carried me back to myself, to my Sentinel, when I had gone too far, when I myself would have died lost. And in a place I cannot describe, he gave me his final words. He told me not to weep or fear for him. That he was at peace."

But Hadji's head had tipped down and his voice went husky. More than one Sentinel's nose picked up the scent of tears. Jonny lifted his hand as if to touch his Guide, but froze and held still.

"Dmitri has told me that he is with us for all of our days," Hadji continued thickly. "That all those who have gone before are with us. I myself have sensed them watching over us. I believe we all have. That...those who leave this world wait in another separated only by our mortal perspective."

Hadji's hand lifted from Dmitri's lifeless chest and he raised it in a salute.

"Dmitri's last words were a wish of strength and victory to us all," he said softly. "It is because of his sacrifice that I stand here now, and because of that, that we all stand here. His sacrifice saved countless lives. I hope...I hope I can bear the honor of that in his name."

Hadji's hand dropped and he allowed Jonny to wrap him in a hug.

Later, when most of the Tribe was sprawled about the lodge and the gardens, drinking and working through their grief, Daryl found Luka before the fireplace.

"Was it your idea?" he asked softly.

Luka looked at him in surprise, then shook his head. "No. This was Benton's idea," Luka gestured.

The mantle of the lodge's central fireplace had long held a plaque with a saying on it that Daryl had always liked. Now, above it, a series of palm-sized seven-pointed stars had been affixed to the brick. Each bore a name – the names of all the Sentinels as well as Ivanna who had been part of the Tribe and were now gone. Jim himself had hung Dmitri's at the conclusion of the funeral.

"The CIA does something like this, I heard," Daryl said. "A lot of theirs aren't named since they can't even reveal the agents' names in death sometimes because of national security secrets. But...it's nice to have this." Daryl swallowed. "Nice to have them...watching over us."

"As they always will be, young one," Luka told him gently. "Even you, because you are Tribe. Dmitri is as much mine as he is yours. And he will be watching you just as closely."

Daryl managed a small smile. "Is that a way of telling me to be good?"

"Perhaps," Luka smiled in return. "I think you will find that the spirits of those who have been Sentinels and Guides are quite active in the lives of the living. So do not blame me if you find yourself as much held to Dmitri's standards as if he were still here to enforce them. Because he is."

Daryl nodded. "I know. I can tell, I guess."

"Good," Luka nodded once. "So can I, my friend." He turned and fixed his eyes on the star that bore Ivanna's name, forever beside Dmitri's now, as they had been for all the time he had known them both. "So can I."

-==OOO==-

It took another two weeks before Jonny asked his father up to the rooms he shared with his Guide. Benton didn't need to ask what it was about. The last month had not passed easily for the father whose sons were clearly not themselves.

They entered the rooms to find Hadji sitting on the floor in the sunlight, his legs crossed.

"IRIS?" Jonny called. "Full sonic isolation, okay?"

"The room is secure, Jonny Quest," the computer replied.

Hadji's eyes opened and he met his father's gaze steadily. "There is much we must discuss, Doctor Quest."

Benton moved to sit on a low ottoman near Hadji. Jonny took up a position on the floor, tight to his brother's side. "Hadji...son...I wish you would tell me what happened."

Jonny could feel the increase in his Guide's heart-rate, the tension that washed through him. But Hadji's outward control was impeccable, and he maintained a serene expression. "I apologize for my distant behavior. I mean you no disrespect. But my thoughts of late have been...difficult."

"Hadji," Benton leaned forward. "You don't have to tell me anything. You don't owe me any explanation. I wish you would give me one, but you are entitled to your privacy."

"Privacy's not helping, dad," Jonny put in. "He needs to talk to you and you need to talk to him. And then maybe we'll all feel better."

Benton glanced to his son. "All?"

Jonny and Hadji exchanged a lightning-quick glance and Hadji nodded.

"Do you recall the period where Blair and I had a certain amount of spiritual overlap after the events in the Arctic?" he asked.

Benton nodded.

"What we, the six of us, were obliged to do to counteract the radioactive energies released at the power plant was much, much more desperate, and much, much more extensive."

"It was...unbelievable," Jonny put in. "We...all of us...we kind of merged for a while there. Like...like how Hadji and I bonded. We were living each other's memories, feelings, thoughts. No, not even that. More...all that stuff kind of blended together into one long life story that just happened to have sections in Cameroon or Maui or Cascade or India."

Benton nodded slowly. "I surmised as much."

"You did?" Jonny's eyebrows went up in surprise.

Benton smiled a little. "Son, I've known you the longest, of course, but I know all of you fairly well, I believe. In the last few weeks, I have watched the six of you communicate so subtly it was akin to telepathy almost. You and Hadji have always been that way – you've always moved as if you were two parts of the same whole. And I remember how Blair and Hadji were able to anticipate and flow around one another that time. Yes, I could guess what had happened."

"Yeah, but this time it was Hadji who made it possible for us to come back," Jonny said.

Benton turned to his adopted son.

"When our task was completed," Hadji explained, "we were so entwined, we could not have functioned as independent people. Had we woken in that state, we would have existed as a single mind split between different bodies, each an extension of the whole. But I had experienced something unique, and this gave me the perspective and power to find and follow the paths that would allow each mind to return to its individual body."

"It was him almost dying in Astoria," Jonny said. "He was trying to save me, to wake me up from Zin's brainwashing, and it was too much. It drove him almost away, but Dmitri saved him. And that meant he was the only one of us who knew what that was like and how to use it."

"I'm grateful for your knowledge that allowed you to help," Benton said carefully, "but I am sorry that you were in that position in the first place." He looked into Hadji's eyes. "I am sorry for what I put you through, my son. I am sorry we ever made that plan and went to Zin. I could have lost both of you. I have Dmitri and your own amazing powers to thank that I did not."

"Actually, it kinda worked out, though," Jonny said. "If he hadn't almost gotten lost, he wouldn't have been able to separate us. Even though..."

"Even though what, son?"

"There are consequences to every decision and to every action," Hadji said. "My experience did grant me the insight to make a difference later, but it also resulted in a certain change to my astral presence."

"It's kinda hard to explain," Jonny said, "but he's see-through now. And it's easier for him to get lost, like he's not tied to his life as strongly anymore."

Benton breathed in sharply but Jonny waved a hand.

"It's okay, pop. As long as I'm always there with him when he does too much, he'll be okay. And I'll always be there." Jonny turned and his blue eyes blazingly met Hadji's brown. "I'll _always_ be there with you, Hadj."

"I know that, my friend."

"That's good," Benton nodded after a moment. "But...is that the reason you've been so distant with me? That you were recovering? Because I thought..."

Hadji shook his head. "No, Doctor Quest. That is not the reason."

"You gotta tell him, Hadj."

Benton looked between his sons. Jonny was as close to Hadji's side as he could get without being in Hadji's lap, and his face was drawn in concern.

"I know," Hadji said, almost a whisper. "But still..."

"Tell him," Jonny urged with utter gentleness. "No matter what happens, nothing's gonna change this." And he pulled Hadji's hand into his own and linked their fingers.

Hadji closed his eyes and began to speak, his face tight and pale.

"When we were in Zin's stronghold, Anaya took me from you for a time, as you know."

Benton felt his stomach turn sharply and his tongue went dry. "I...was very afraid of what she might have done to you," he managed.

"She showed me a video of you from not long after you adopted me. She said you had been manipulating me always, that my only function was as a contingency plan to protect Jonny as little more than a bodyguard, and that you cared nothing for me as a person. That, in fact, you planned to stunt any interest or talent of mine that was contrary to your goal of assuring my total loyalty and devotion to Jonny."

"Oh my god," Benton covered his mouth. He clearly remembered which video Hadji meant. It had been buried in the Quest family archives, in his secret files.

"Don't, dad," Jonny held up a hand. "Let him finish."

"Later, when Zin woke Jonny after the programming was complete, I was not able to override it right away. I was, however, able to insert myself into his mind enough to control his actions to a certain point. It ensured that Zin never gained anything from Jonny that was dangerous, but I was required to play along with his desires for a time."

Hadji finally opened his eyes and met Benton's horrified gaze. "It was I who whipped you, Doctor Quest. It was my will. I was conscious and I was aware of the choice. It was not Jonny in a trance. It was I."

Benton had to swallow several times before he could speak. "Hadji...I understand. We all knew that something terrible might happen, that we might all have to make awful decisions in order to get out of there safely. I cannot blame you for what you did to save us all and to preserve the illusion that Jonny was under Zin's control."

Benton sighed and looked at his hands. "With that video of me in mind, I imagine you had reason to be angry with me, though I know you would never express it that way."

Hadji jerked as if he had been struck. To Benton's surprise, he turned away and buried his face against Jonny's shoulder.

"No dad!" Jonny cried, wrapping his arms around his Guide. "That's not what's going on here!"

Benton waited for a moment, then asked cautiously, "What's going on here, Jonny?"

Jonny never let go of Hadji, but he looked at his father with fire in his blue eyes. "Hadji _hated_ what he was doing. He _hated_ it. I...I can feel it."

Benton nodded.

"He didn't have a choice, though. Not just because of the plan, but because he had to make sure Zin wanted to keep you alive. So it had to look real. It had to look like I was brainwashed and he had no reason to wonder why I lied. Or even notice it."

"Lied?"

"He told Zin he smelled blood after he hit you the last time. But he didn't. Hadji didn't hit you hard enough to break the skin. You never had a cut."

"You're right. I never really thought about it, but yes. Most of my injuries were from hanging from those chains so long." Benton's eyes landed on Hadji, who was straightening up, though he did not extrapolate himself from Jonny's embrace.

"At the time," Hadji said, his voice low, "I was able to exert a small amount of power and temporarily influence Anaya and Melana so neither would notice my falsehood. But the fact that I did not draw blood does not lessen my crime against you, Doctor Quest."

"If you're worried that I'm angry with you, let me assure you that I am not..." Benton began.

"No, sir," Hadji interrupted. "You have reason to be, but I know your good nature well enough. I wished you to know the truth, that I was conscious of my acts, but I am not afraid of your reaction to that."

"Remember," Jonny said. "We got out of there right after Dmitri brought Hadji back, but his brain was still a little scrambled. What I didn't realize was that Hadji was still stretching himself thin between zoning all those Sentinels on our way out and then trying to communicate with Blair and Kaimi about everything that was going on. But not long after, all six of us mixed up all our feelings and memories."

"Yes?"

Hadji sat up straight and met his adopted father's eyes unflinchingly. "Doctor Quest, I need you to explain to me the meaning of the video I watched. I need to understand what you intended for my life when you adopted me."

"Me, too, dad," Jonny said, his own face sharp with tension. "Hadji's my brother and my best friend and my Guide. I need to know, too."

Benton could feel the weight of that moment, of Jonny's waiting judgment. He knew he needed to proceed carefully, that his next words could very well redefine his relationship with the young Sentinel and his Guide. _As well as Jim and Blair and Ngama and Kaimi_ , he thought suddenly. _Because unless I have misread things, they are all still connected, and what one feels, they will all feel_. And yet he had to be honest – his Sentinel son would easily read his tension and would be looking carefully for examples of anything amiss.

Benton met Hadji's eyes. "You know that I often have multiple reasons for my decisions."

"Of course."

"Then it should not surprise you that I had an additional motivation in adopting you other than your own welfare as a child."

Jonny's whole body snapped tight, but to his son's credit, Jonny did not immediately react otherwise. Benton knew there were others even within the lodge who would already be on their feet throwing him out of the room and possibly their lives.

He took a breath in that instant of leeway he had been granted. "While it is true I did want the best for a bright and courageous young man who had done my family a great service, I was in truth also thinking about Jonny's well-being. But it was _not_ for the reason Hadji saw in that video, not exactly."

"Then what reason was it, exactly?" Hadji asked, his tone carefully neutral.

"Jonny, after we lost your mother, you and I were kind of on our own. And Race was a good friend and mentor and bodyguard and tutor to you, but you still needed something else. You still needed a friend your own age. A confidant. A companion. A brother."

Benton held out his hands.

"Hadji, I adopted you for your own good. But I also hoped that you would give Jonny the one thing I could not give my own son, and that is an equal."

"But that video?" Jonny asked.

"Hadji, why do you keep your name secret?" Benton pressed.

"To protect my identity." Hadji's eyes widened. "Because were the true relationship between myself and you, and myself and Jonny, revealed to our enemies, it would put me in greater danger of being used against you."

"Exactly," Benton nodded. "I recorded that video when it became clear that you would not only become Jonny's friend and my young protege, but my son in truth. I recorded it the same day we decided together to keep your true adopted status a secret."

"You put it in there _expecting_ it to be found," Jonny said with astonishment. "You didn't mean it. You just made it to throw people off Hadji's track, just in case."

"I never anticipated needing to use it, or that you would ever see it yourself, Hadji," Benton admitted. His gaze locked on Hadji's. "And I am so sorry, my son. I am so sorry for that doubt that must have haunted you."

"I did not doubt your regard for me now, Doctor Quest," Hadji said softly. "Merely whether it might have grown years later than I thought it had. It was a...distressing doubt to carry."

"No," and now Benton pushed from the ottoman and, when Jonny's body turned towards him and both started to relax, drew them into his arms again. "No, my son. It did not take me years to love you and consider you my own. It took moments."

Suddenly Benton was struck and he pulled back enough to look into Hadji's face. "Wait. You wondered if I had loved you as a child, and yet when you were faced with me in Jonny's body you still risked your life and your totally depleted energies in order to trick the twins into failing to realize you had not hit me hard enough to draw blood?" Benton also remembered in that moment that as Jonny's body had listed off the strikes, he had named "Hadji Singh" and not "Hadji Singh Quest" – more proof of Hadji's command over the situation.

"Well," Hadji admitted, "whatever your heart's truth for me either as a child or as an adult, you are still the only father I have ever know, the only one I have ever wished for, and the only man I have ever aspired to be."

Benton could only shake his head as his heart leaped into his throat.

Jonny reached out and touched Hadji gently on the back of his neck. "And you're the best brother a guy could ever ask for, Hadj. The best Guide and friend and everything."

"Hadji, can you forgive me for that video?" Benton asked.

"Yes, father," Hadji said, "if you can forgive me for striking you."

"Technically," Jonny put in, "we both did. His brain and my body. So I'm sorry, too."

Benton laughed. "We're all alive. You're safe. And you both protected me while I was in Zin's clutches. I don't think anything else matters. But, should you need to hear it, yes, I forgive you. Both of you." He held them again. "My sons."

-==OOO==-

Later, after Benton, Hadji, and Jonny had talked some more about what had happened to them, they emerged to find the other two pairs of Sentinels and Guides hanging around the hallway by their rooms just a little too casually.

It was Kaimi who strode forward and impishly poked Hadji on the tip of his nose.

"Told you so."

Hadji smiled a little sheepishly. "Yes, you did. Though, I know well that I am not the only one who was concerned."

Jim and Ngama all shifted minutely, and Benton could understand; the betrayal of a father was something they shared in common. Perhaps something they had anticipated, even. No wonder Hadji had been so uncertain with so many foreign betrayals leaking into his heart.

But Kaimi shook her head. "Did you tell him you love him?" she asked bluntly.

Benton suppressed a laugh. He wasn't sure he'd seen Hadji look that poleaxed in years.

"I'm going to take that as a 'no' then," she said.

"Leave him alone," Jonny jumped in to defend his Guide. "You know that Hadji doesn't talk about stuff. Not like that. Unless it's, you know. An actual life-and-death thing."

"I know," she nodded. "But isn't that a little silly when we all know what we all feel now?"

"If you want my opinion," Jim spoke up unexpectedly, "it doesn't matter what he did or didn't say. Benton, you know what he means, right?"

Benton smiled. "Of course."

Jim shrugged. "Then there you go. The smartest person I know once said that it doesn't matter if you don't _say_ something as long as the other person knows how to hear it. And it seems to me that Benton doesn't need Sentinel hearing or Guide powers to hear Hadji's heart just fine."

"I don't think any of us do," Blair said softly, smiling at his fellow Guide.

Jonny slung an arm around Hadji's shoulders. "We hear you just fine, Hadj."

"Good," Hadji said, turning his eyes on the others but finally resting them on his Sentinel and brother and soulmate. "For I have always heard you, too, and ever shall for all of our days."

-==OOO==-

Two months later, the Tribe decided to have a celebration for a variety of reasons. The paperwork had finally come in officially designating the new Sentinels as protected refugees with the potential for US citizenship later if they wanted it. Additionally, all six Sentinel pairs who had been rather unexpectedly drawn together due to Sentinel sickness were proved to have had fruitful results, so now six pregnant Sentinels were the focus of much joy and interest. Jessie and Daryl had decided to announce their engagement but, to appease their fathers and rather extensive Tribe family, were planning to wait until Daryl graduated from the Academy before embarking on that next step. And Melly and Angie had successfully initiated their own bonding.

It was a week of frantic preparations and chaotic planning, which had resulted in Simon very loudly threatening to abandon them and focus on the Cascade PD full-time (while privately wondering if he should just turn in his badge and be done with it). Jim had delegated like a master, with the Council now running the show and the phrase of the week became "Go ask Blair or Benton or Hadji or Kaimi" when anyone brought him question. But the four of them with help from every quarter put on a full event with decorations, mountains of food, music, games, prizes, and somehow they managed to work in a tradition from the home culture of every single person in attendance.

Blair was quietly contemplating the centerpiece at the table that had been dedicated to the barbequed meats – a display of a bow and spear of Chopec origin. Jim had kept them from the time Incacha had been in town, and this seemed like the right moment to share them with the Tribe.

 _I hope he approves_ , he thought wryly.

Because the other thing that had changed, besides his new and still-not-quite-faded connection to three Sentinels and two other Guides, plus the size and meaning of the Tribe, was his newfound awareness of all those who had gone before guarding them. And it wasn't just him – Hadji and Kaimi and Melly could feel it, too – Incacha and the wise man Ndovu and Dmitri and Ivanna and Kaimi's great-grandmother and so many others who watched over them.

 _If it weren't for them, we wouldn't be here_ , he thought. _Incacha helped Jim become what he is, and he saved me. And without that, I'm not sure we'd have a Tribe at all_.

And it was becoming a Tribe in the truest sense. Though the Sentinels who had been deprogrammed from Zin's brainwashing were still all a little nervous, still finding a home in the surroundings they had opted to adopt for themselves, they were now Tribe, now family, just like Benton and Race and Simon and Joel and Howard and Jessie and Daryl and everyone else. In fact, the Sentinels that had been under Zin's control were almost _more_ dedicated to the idea of the Tribe – they had been stolen from their homes and families, those who hadn't been rejected for their sensory problems, and while many asked to bring their loved ones to Cascade to make new homes for themselves, they all knew well what it was to be beholden. And instead of not wanting to be a part of something, they wanted it more than ever. The _right_ something.

"Because," Jim appeared at Blair's side, picking up on his thoughts. "Sentinels protect their territory. And now we really have something worth protecting."

"And Guides protect their Sentinels," Blair answered with a smile. He looked out over the grounds, where almost six-hundred people – Sentinels, a few Guides, and plenty who were neither – were happily mingling. And if a Sentinel was close to a zone, the nearest people would help them through it. If one began to have a reaction, the others were ready to help. They had begun to form a true society based on mutual respect and learning and need.

"And soon there will be a lot more of us," Jim nodded. "Benton's got that list, and as soon as things finish stabilizing out here, there'll be a whole bunch of us going out to find them, all of them, and offer them a home if they want one."

"And the knowledge and training either way," Blair added. "Because Guides protect Sentinels no matter if they want to be Tribe or not. We'll help them. All of them. And someday, maybe, everybody will know how amazing you all are."

"Maybe," Jim shrugged. "But, you know, Sandburg," he looked at his Guide fondly, "this is all your fault."

"What is?" Blair's brow furrowed in confusion.

"All of this," Jim swept his arm out to encompass the scene before them.

"How do you figure?"

"When your dissertation got leaked, you made the choice to destroy your reputation and your future to protect me," Jim answered. "Because of that, you lost your place at Rainier and everything you'd wanted for yourself."

"Yeah, thanks ever so for reminding me of the worst mistake I ever made," Blair said mockingly.

"Don't call it a mistake," Jim shook his head. "You didn't do it. Your mom was the real troublemaker there. But you did make a _decision_ that day. An important, impossible, painful decision you based on integrity and courage and selflessness."

"What's your point?"

"So that's why you went to Borneo, to figure out what to do next," Jim said patiently. "Also, because of how you dealt with the press, you got into the sights of our old friend Sunshine. He abducted you in Borneo, and you escaped. Which is how you found the Quests."

"Well, sure…"

"Because of that, Jonny wound up a Sentinel, so Benton founded SELF, which led to bringing in a whole load of Sentinels and getting involved internationally."

"Okay, but Jonny would have become a Sentinel someday anyway," Blair protested. "It was just a question of when."

"Maybe, but you're missing the point," Jim shook his head. "Jonny never became a Sentinel as a kid because he was never alone long enough to trigger the senses without that chemical push, and that was not going to change any time soon. So maybe it would be another few years before it would happen. And when it eventually did, it wouldn't be in the basement of Wellmen Global, would it?"

"Probably not," Blair said slowly.

"So Benton would have helped Jonny, maybe even contacted you after doing his computer search magic, but none of us –not the Quests and not you and I – would know anything about all the Sentinels in other places in the world, or about the governments working with them. We'd have helped Jonny, but SELF might not ever have gotten founded."

Blair gulped.

"And without SELF," Jim continued, beginning to smile, "you and Hadji wouldn't have found out that Zin was spying on us and copying our work. Because you can't tell me Zin wouldn't eventually have stumbled onto it after Benton and Jonny came to you. He would be out there right now, building an army of Sentinels and nobody would know to stop him until it was too late."

"I don't know about…"

"Plus," Jim continued on happily, "if we hadn't encountered other Sentinels, or if I hadn't had to teach Jonny, it might have taken us a lot longer to get to where we are now. So you wouldn't have started down the path of the Seventh yet, and we'd both probably be dead because of that firebug. Not to mention everything we've learned since about it."

"Well, maybe…"

"And Ngama would never have heard of SELF and come here to meet you, so he'd be back in Cameroon probably stuck with that crazy shaman, and he wouldn't have met Kaimi, and she'd never know she was a Guide. And all the others would still be locked up or outcasts or whatever because they wouldn't know they were Sentinels, or they'd still be in the black market being traded around like stud bulls instead of being here learning to be free."

"That's…"

"And we wouldn't have had a Tribe of our own to fight back against Kincaid and Brackett, who probably never would have teamed up except Zin recruited them to take us out, but because they came at us the way they did, we could beat them. And there wouldn't have been three pairs of Sentinels and Guides to stand up and save Cascade when Zin or Kincaid or whoever else decided to make a go at the power plant."

"Yeah, but the plant never would have been in danger in the first place if not for everything else."

"This is Cascade," Jim said. " _Somebody_ was going to go for that thing someday. That's just the law of averages."

"That's not how the law of averages works –"

"Face it," Jim cut him off, crossing his arms and grinning. "It's a simple progression. You sacrificed everything to protect me, wound up with the Quests in Borneo, and got SELF created at just the right moment to get involved in an international situation in time to literally save Cascade and maybe the whole world. We needed SELF to exist in the right place at the right time to make a difference and be able to stop Zin. And it never would have except Benton was faced with Jonny becoming a Sentinel when we had to break you all out of Sunshine's place where we learned about what was going on in the world. And you were in there because you discredited yourself and went to Borneo."

"So doesn't that make Benton the linchpin?" Blair managed desperately. "Or Jonny? Since they're the reason SELF got founded, and you're right that without that, everything else falls apart."

"But they wouldn't have founded it at all if you and your Sandburg Zone hadn't changed the timing."

"What about my mom? She's the one who actually leaked the diss!"

"Which _you_ wrote," Jim returned smugly. "And _you're_ the one who started the whole mess by finding me in the first place and studying me. But we both know you had other ways out of what your mom did besides the one you took. _That's_ the decision that everything hangs on."

"I…there has to be something wrong with this logic," Blair felt his face getting hot.

"Not really," Jim shrugged, his smile widening every moment. "Everything goes back to you and the bravest thing I'd ever seen you do– standing up and declaring yourself a fraud. You gave it all up for me. And because of that, _you_ , Blair Sandburg, single-handedly saved the world and _every single Sentinel in it_."

Blair had one instant of pure silence to consider before there was a _roar_.

He spun and looked out, realizing only now that from the moment Jim had started speaking, everyone else had fallen silent and turned to listen. Everyone had heard Jim's pronouncement, and apparently they agreed. They met Blair's astonished, unbelieving expression with an approval so loud it seemed the ground itself was shaking. They surged around him, cheering, applauding, calling out thank-yous and affirmations and praise. And on another level, Blair could hear the spirit animals expressing their own agreement.

He could barely breathe for the surprise of it all, the overwhelming love and pride and loyalty that slammed into him from every side. It was almost too much.

And then Jim grabbed his hand and squeezed and he was safe and whole.

And then Hadji was beside him, taking his other hand and flowing that boundless serenity into him, along with a deep, abiding joy.

And then Jonny was there, and Jessie, and Race, and Benton, all holding onto one another.

Daryl and Simon stood with an arm around one another while Joel and Henri and Brian did a three-way high-five. Melly was bouncing up and down holding Angie's hand. Ngama and Kaimi were wrapped in an embrace by Leilani. Emeline and Hasna did a happy little dance with JJ and Yasmin. The whole Tribe were there, hundreds of members strong and united. And somewhere, never mind where exactly because where never mattered, Incacha and Ivanna and Dmitri and Ndovu and so many others were part of it all, like voices on the wind.

Blair felt tears tracking down his face and he squeezed the hands that held him.

"Maybe," he said softly into the clamor to those who most needed to hear, "maybe I was the first step. But it took all of us," he looked to his Sentinel and the Quests, "to get all the way to this point. It took all of us and so many more," he looked out at the crowd. So many faces, so many people that belonged to them now, and where they belonged, too. A Tribe, a family, that stood bound by powers that had no words.

As Jim had said, from the ashes of Blair's old life and dreams and hopes, a spark had been born from Blair's integrity and courage. Which was nurtured in Benton's ambition. Brightened by Race loyalty and Jessie's commitment. Strengthened in Jonny's spirit. Magnified by Hadji's wisdom. And spread by the power of Jim's heart until every corner of the world would feel its light and warmth as a shining beacon, a haven, an invitation into the miraculous.

 _Trust ye the holy Seven_.

And so they did.


End file.
